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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847643">Copycats &amp; Dopplegangers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/uberneko_zero/pseuds/uberneko_zero'>uberneko_zero</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Drama &amp; Romance, Emotionally Repressed, Humor, M/M, Resolved Sexual Tension, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Threesome - M/M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Young Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:35:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>27,329</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/uberneko_zero/pseuds/uberneko_zero</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well.<br/>YAOI. <i>SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sai/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Copycat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>Spoiler Warnings &amp; Other Stuff:</b> Warnings for Sasuke's character development (and events surrounding him) up through episode 135. I make reference to some things that happened during that time and a decision he made.</p><p><b>SAI:</b> The character Sai is from Naruto Shippuden, the next part of the series after the FILLER (eps 136-220). Minor spoilery thingies for him as well, but nothing massive. In the series, he became a part of Team 7 with Naruto and Saukra for a while while Sasuke was off doing other things. Aside from his debut in episode 1 of Shippuden (they did a Tarantino-esque peak into the future), he really comes in at episode 33.</p><p><b>Disclaimer: </b>Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto. Then some people in suits turned it into an anime. They have names. I just don't know what they are. In any case, I am merely borrowing the characters.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</strong>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p>
<hr/><p><strong>A/N: 2009 </strong>This was intended to be a Oneshot (in which I was both taking a breather from the Death Note fic (A Balm for Social Failure), and proving to myself I <em><strong>can</strong></em> write a story that is under 50,000 words. <em>Kore de yoshi!</em>)</p><p>
  <strong>A/N 2020: I had prewritten up through most of chapter 3, long ago when writing this and had a block on the original concept for the story, due to reasons. I have now dusted this story off and completed it. :)</strong>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 1: The Copycat</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>"Hey, Sasuke..." Naruto said ponderingly.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"You remember when we were kids?"</p><p>Sasuke made a slight face of annoyance as he tried to keep Naruto from distracting him from the task at hand. "That's rather vague... A point of reference would be helpful."</p><p>"Pfft," Naruto scoffed before obliging. "Like when we first formed team seven?"</p><p>"I blocked out most of that due to Sakura," the black-haired boy said as he worked. "She was starting to traumatize me more than my dark, tragic past."</p><p>"Yeah, about that," Naruto cut in. "I know everyone thought you were <em>awesome</em> and all - enough to obsess over your every move - but they had it <em>all wrong</em>."</p><p>"I was good at what I did," Sasuke prickled defensively. Why wouldn't they look up to him for being an excellent ninja? "I was the ace rookie-"</p><p>"A master brooder," Naruto added obnoxiously, speaking over him.</p><p>"And top of our class-"</p><p>"Unoriginal."</p><p><em>Unoriginal?</em> Sasuke paused, feeling mildly insulted, but also annoyed that Naruto might think less of him for something. Not that the blond had bothered himself to be specific... "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"</p><p>"You're a copycat," Naruto said plainly, in an almost lecturing tone. "It's a nasty habit you've always had and it hasn't improved with age. It amazes me that all your supposed coolness has blinded everyone from seeing that."</p><p>"..." Sasuke stared at the blond. He felt his eye starting to twitch - a reaction Naruto excelled at invoking. "Not that it matters, but what are you going on about?"</p><p>One of Naruto's enormous blue eyes blinked at him critically as the blond regarded him over his shoulder. "I was paying attention back then, and it's been bothering me for years. We were all kids, but you were trying so hard to act cool that all you ended up doing was copying things people said and acting like you were the one who came up with it - and everyone bought it. You've even copied ME before."</p><p>"Impossible," Sasuke dismissed the notion that <em>anything</em> Naruto said would be profound enough to repeat.</p><p>"You DID," Naruto insisted. "Though usually it would be Kakashi-sensei or someone else." The blond's face scrunched up in annoyance. "ARRRRRGHHHHH it pissed me off! You were coasting on other people's coolness all this time and none of your fans even noticed! It was fraud-"</p><p>"Even were that the case-" he interrupted drolly before the blond really warmed up to his rant (Naruto could sometimes complain like it was an endurance sport), "-it never stopped <em><strong>you</strong></em> from following me around like a puppy with its tail between its legs." Sasuke punctuated the statement with a few well-placed elbow grinds into Naruto's bare back.</p><p>"Nnngh," Naruto groaned, eyes squinting shut as his muscles were kneaded so roughly. "Bastard," the blond said gruffly, switching to a combative tone as if to cover the peculiar quality of the noise he'd just made. "Who taught you massage? You're worse than the hag."</p><p>"It's me or nothing, Dobe," Sasuke reminded him warningly.</p><p>"Alright, alright," Naruto grumbled. "Don't stop..." He breathed out heavily as Sasuke found another knot. "But would it kill you to be a bit more gentle?"</p><p>Sasuke hesitated as he considered how to proceed. "How gentle? Like this?" He smoothed his hands down Naruto's back and rolled lazy half circles up along his spine. "I thought you liked it harder...?"</p><p>"Mmmmn."</p><p>Sasuke was surprised to feel the blond's response ripple through him.</p><p>Stranger still was how that combined with the vague distraction of having supple flesh beneath his fingers. It made him more aware of the body beneath him, causing him to give it more than a casual appraisal. Naruto certainly had a nice form... it was evident that he trained extensively. But this was the first time Sasuke had taken much note of it.</p><p>Sasuke frowned. Perhaps straddling the other boy's body was not the best of positions. Though it made massage easier, it suddenly seemed rather awkward. He could feel the blond's body heat warming his skin. It was both disturbing and disturbingly appealing.</p><p>He tried to ignore the fact that he was likely going insane. It ran in the family after all, but maybe it would go away if he ignored it.</p><p>"I never followed you around like a puppy," Naruto muttered sulkily.</p><p>"You still do." Sasuke worked over the muscles in the blond's shoulders, cutting off the other boy's retort with the deeply penetrating motion.</p><p>"Nnnn... do not."</p><p>Again, the sound affected him unexpectedly. Sasuke forced his mind from lingering on the curve of Naruto's hips between his thighs, which was nothing short of a feat to accomplish. "Don't argue with me, Dobe, you know I'm right."</p><p>"No, I know you're an uppity bastard. And you have a high opinion of yourself that is needlessly shared by everyone else."</p><p>Naruto had fine golden hairs dusting his lower back. They were soft, and pale against the tawny gold of his skin. Sasuke ran his fingertips over the ones just above the waistband of the other boy's pants without thinking.</p><p>The blond's body tensed. "S-Sasuke?"</p><p>The faintly tremulous tone to his voice was intriguing. "What?" he murmured.</p><p>"Um..."</p><p>"There was a piece of lint," Sasuke lied airily. "Calm down. Your tensing up is ruining all of my hard work."</p><p>Naruto's lean body tensed further beneath his hands as he resumed the massage. It seemed to shudder a little before slowly giving in to his request, which did nothing to distract Sasuke from some surprising and very inappropriate thoughts.</p><p>For instance, he was greatly regretting the fact that they were in one of the many public lounge areas in the Hokage's tower. If they had been at his own house, or even Naruto's sorry excuse for an apartment...</p><p>"Hey, Dynamic Duo," a particularly annoying voice, to Saskue anyway, grated from the open doorway.</p><p>"Sai!" Naruto piped up with a pleased grin - the antithesis of Sasuke's reaction to the intruding ninja. "When'd you get back? I thought you were in Grass Country for at least another week?"</p><p>Sai leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest in a manner that was vaguely stand-offish yet displayed his bare midsection in an inviting way. Sasuke had decided long ago that he hated that outfit, and the other boy in general. His sense of fashion was worse than Naruto's. Though, he admitted, Sai managed to look good even in bad taste; that was part of what irritated him the most.</p><p>"We finished early," the other black-haired shinobi said without expression. "Hokage-sama wanted to see you both... but I could tell her you are otherwise engaged?" A tiny, lewd smirk ghosted the corner of his pale lips.</p><p>Naruto seemed to become aware of the compromising position he was in and promptly scrambled out from under Sasuke with an embarrassed flush rising in his face. "No, no, it's nothing like that."</p><p>"Oh? Nothing like what?" Sai said dryly, looking quite entertained as Naruto waved his hands about in denial.</p><p>"I messed up my back, so I asked him to help me out with a massage." Naruto fidgeted. "There was no one else!" he added defiantly.</p><p>"Hmmm." Sai looked Naruto up and down and then Sasuke. "I wasn't aware Sasuke-kun was good with his hands."</p><p>Naruto coughed and busied himself with looking for his shirt and jacket.</p><p>"Sasuke-kun," Sai addressed him then, "Why don't you go see her first, hmm?" <em>Get lost</em>, was the unspoken message.</p><p>Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the other boy and his faux smile. His pale face was so blankly cheerful... and his eyes were closed as if to hide his true thoughts and feelings. It was annoying. "Very well." He got up off the couch and straightened, smoothing a few wrinkles from his white shorts, glaring at Sai the entire time.</p><p>"You know, Naruto," Sai was saying as Sasuke left the room, "I happen to be very skilled at massage..."</p><p>Sasuke ground his teeth, deciding that it was reasons like this that he hated the ninja that everyone thought was so similar to himself. Naruto's enthusiastic exclamation in response was another.</p>
<hr/><p>"Sasuke-teme, I said <em><strong>wait</strong></em>!" Naruto hollered.</p><p>Sasuke ignored him, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets as he walked at a fast pace. They'd spoken with the Hokage, they had their new mission, and his business with Naruto was complete. And he was <em>not</em> jealous.</p><p>"Go home, Dobe, I have things to do."</p><p>"Like what?" Naruto challenged, huffing as he finally caught up.</p><p>"None of your business." He didn't really have anything to do, but Sai always put him in a rotten mood. The boy liked to imply that there was something going on between himself and Naruto, only to have the blond vehemently deny it. Then the tankini-wearing bastard would give Sasuke a look that let him know that he was laughing on the inside.</p><p>It shouldn't annoy him that Naruto seemed to like the pale, socially-maladjusted pain in the ass. But it did.</p><p>A lot.</p><p>Especially when Sai seemed to lavish a special sort of attention on the blond... Especially when said special attention looked a lot like flirting...</p><p>"Sasuke-bastard's a bastard," Naruto announced.</p><p>"Idiot blond is an idiot," Sasuke shot back with a roll of his eyes.</p><p>"Aw, c'mon, Sasuke!" Naruto groaned, "You were in such a good mood earlier."</p><p>"Was I?"</p><p>Naruto thought about that for a moment. "Well, a good mood for <em>you</em>. You were less pissy than usual."</p><p>Sasuke glared at the blond, who was smiling mischievously at him. "It's a wonder I haven't killed you yet."</p><p>"It's because you'd be sad if I weren't around to bug you all the time."</p><p>"Hn. I wouldn't be sad, I'd be ecstatic."</p><p>"You'd miss me," Naruto assured him, throwing an arm around his shoulders.</p><p>Sasuke almost broke stride. Almost. "Get off me, Dobe. Your jacket clashes with my hair." Good god, did he actually <em>like</em> Naruto? The unsettled feeling in his stomach said 'yes'.</p><p>"Yeah? Well your shirt clashes with my jacket."</p><p>Sasuke's mind supplied an easy fix for both complaints. The thought of seeing Naruto half-naked, and maybe also from the front this time... it was almost too vivid.</p><p>"I'll lose my jacket if you lose your shirt," Naruto said in his ear.</p><p>Sasuke jumped back as the words stirred something in him he was positive would result in nothing good. He could feel the blush it had inspired on his cheeks, and felt nearly mortified at his reaction. Naruto was watching him with wide, blue eyes.</p><p>"It was a joke, Sasuke."</p><p>Sasuke wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't handle embarrassment well. Those emotions he didn't know what to do with often turned to anger. "Well it wasn't very funny, was it?" he said sharply.</p><p>Naruto glared at him. "Well maybe it would have been if you weren't so uptight!"</p><p>"If I'm so uptight, then why the hell do you hang around me all the time when I want to be left <em><strong>alone</strong></em>? Go bother Sai or something, I'm sure at least he'd <em>appreciate</em> it." <em>Oh god, why did I mention Sai?</em> Don't<em> bother Sai, Naruto</em>.</p><p>"You're such an asshole," Naruto said through clenched teeth. His eyes were squinted shut unhappily. "I guess it's my fault for thinking that there was more to you underneath all that." He turned on his heel and stomped off in the other direction.</p><p>"Naruto," Sasuke said in frustration. The blond swatted a hand in his direction without turning around, telling him to <em>piss off</em>, but kept going.</p><p>Sasuke watched him until he disappeared from view around a building. "I am an asshole," he lamented. But he did not know how to deal with this new sort of fixation with the blond he was now becoming aware of. He knew his mood was not stellar most days, but if it continued like this, it would be rough times ahead.</p>
<hr/><p>Naruto tiraded at Sasuke in his head, and cursed himself for being stupid enough to say something suggestive in the first place.</p><p>He should have known Sasuke would react like that. Truthfully, he could have expected worse. But why bring Sai into it? He wasn't so optimistic as to believe Sasuke was jealous, though he did seem to dislike the ninja with the short black hair more than was warranted.</p><p>No, Sasuke was just being a prickly bastard, telling him to go somewhere he was wanted.</p><p>"Che," Naruto grumbled. He'd had enough of being unwanted. He didn't want to hear it from his best friend as well. He was tired of imposing on people. Maybe he would go and see Sai... his back still hurt and his spirits were low enough that he didn't feel like going home.</p>
<hr/><p>Sasuke, in his darkening mood, decided that the best thing to do was to stalk Naruto. '<em>Follow'</em> Naruto, he amended. The blond had seemed really hurt this time... it was his duty as a friend to make sure he was ok.</p><p>Right.</p><p>Putting his stealth skills to the test, Sasuke 'followed' Naruto. It was vexing indeed that after debating going home, Naruto seemed inclined to visit the tankini ninja, as Sasuke had unthinkingly suggested. <em>Stupid, stupid, stupid,</em> Sasuke berated himself. He leaned further around the side of a building as he crouched, watching Naruto ring the doorbell of Sai's apartment.</p><p>"Greetings, fair Uchiha!" a green spandex clad horror acknowledged him energetically, nearly scaring him out of his skin. "What brings you to this part of town?"</p><p>"Shhhh!" Sasuke threw a finger in front of his lips and glared at Lee. His eyes darted back to Naruto to see him disappearing through the doorway. "Dammit."</p><p>"Is there some reason you do not wish for Naruto to see you, Sasuke-kun?"</p><p>"Several," he replied cagily. "But now is not a good time, Lee. I'm busy."</p><p>Lee looked thoughtful. "It appears that you are infringing on Naruto's privacy. That is not something you should be busy with, Sasuke-kun. If you are lacking in stimulating activities with which to occupy your time, I would be more than happy to suggest a few-"</p><p>Sasuke rubbed a hand over his face. "No, that is quite alright..." He waved his hand at Lee in a shooing motion. "So if you'll just-</p><p>"Sasuke-kun," the bowl-haircut sporting ninja said resolutely, "I cannot leave you to this. Stalking is not a proper and healthy activity to engage in."</p><p>"Yeah, well neither is sodomy, but people still do it."</p><p>"W-What is that? Your tone implies something exceedingly inappropriate."</p><p>"Oh, and it is," Sasuke agreed blithely. "That's why I am making sure it doesn't happen to Naruto. You better ask Guy-sensei about it- it's very complicated and I'm sure it will be easier to understand coming from him." <em>I'm evil. But a means to an end, right?</em> "You should go ask him <em>right now</em>; then you can help me keep Naruto on the path of virtue."</p><p>To Sasuke's delight, Lee got a very determined look on his face before sprinting off in search of his teacher.</p><p>He smiled. <em>So, naivety was good for something!</em></p><p>Speaking of naive, Sai was most certainly not. Naruto was in danger.</p><p>Sasuke ninja-ran to Sai's building and pressed his back to the wall, so he would not be visible from the windows. He heard something inside... voices, perhaps. Creeping up to a window that would belong to Sai's unit, he listened closer.</p><p>
  <em>"Nnn... no, not there..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Shhh, you'll come to like it..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ahhh!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Mmmm, so hot..."</em>
</p><p>Sasuke could not believe his ears. He flushed hot with rage -and something else- as the muffled voices painted a picture in his head. He could see Sai (the bastard!) leaning over Naruto, lifting long, tanned legs as he...</p><p>The image shifted. Sasuke could see <em>himself</em>, leaning over Naruto, lifting long, smooth, tanned legs as he moved between the other boy's thighs... Naruto's face would be flushed, his eyes partially closed as he bit his lip in pleasure...</p><p>Sasuke mentally slapped himself. Really hard.</p><p>Another moan sounded from inside and Sasuke's frazzled nerves snapped. He couldn't let Sai do that to his best friend! He couldn't let that pervert have him! <em>(By the sound of things, it's a little late for that, isn't it?)</em> his inner voice asked. <em>Shut up!</em> he growled at it and broke down the door.</p><p>...Or he would have, but it happened to be unlocked. He fell into the apartment rather ungracefully as two pairs of eyes turned his way.</p><p>"Can I help you, Sasuke-kun?" Sai asked.</p><p>"Sasuke?!" Naruto said.</p><p>"Er..." Sasuke replied intelligently as he noted the two other boys were both fully clothed. He stared at Sai's deadpan expression and then Naruto's shocked face.</p><p>
  <em>"Oooooh, yes," a voice from the television set moaned.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Nngh- Ahhhhh."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Harder, Ah!"</em>
</p><p>As Sasuke watched, Naruto's face slowly blushed a bright red.</p><p>"Ummm, this isn't what you think," Naruto said nervously.</p><p>Sasuke blinked at him, and then looked over his shoulder at the screen which showed two actors that were both unmistakably male. "It isn't gay pornography?" he asked skeptically.</p><p>"No!" Naruto stammered. "I mean, it was just on... it's not like we wanted to watch it or rented it or anything. Sai, turn that off!"</p><p>"But it's about to get to the best part," Sai said without embarrassment.</p><p>Heavy panting and gasping issues from the TV, scandalizing to hear.</p><p>Naruto looked rather desperate and started searching for the remote.</p><p>"Looking for this?" Sai asked, holding it aloft. "But maybe your friend here wants to watch it," he said slyly.</p><p>"Sai!" Naruto stage-whispered, his face turning redder by the moment. "<em>Please.</em> I'll do anything."</p><p>Sai took a moment to smirk at Sasuke before complying. The sound powered off right as one of the actors let out a full-throated groan of completion.</p><p>The ensuing silence was deafening.</p><p>Sasuke felt very uncomfortable indeed. His best friend was watching gay porn with the guy that seemed to want to jump him AND had just agreed to do <em>anything</em> the pale-faced bastard wanted. To top that off, Sasuke was not left unaffected by the noises that had accompanied the depiction of lovemaking, and all he could do while hearing that is stare at Naruto and wish they had been doing the same. <em>Insane. I'm insane.</em></p><p>The other problem he had was that he had just busted into Sai's apartment unannounced. He searched for something he could say to explain as the blond started to give him the hairy eye. "Uh... Naruto..."</p><p>"Why are you even here, Sasuke?" Naruto spat. Apparently he, too, liked to use anger as a cover for embarrassment. "You told me to get lost, and now you're following me around? <em>Just what</em><em><strong> is </strong></em><em>it with you?</em>"</p><p>"I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about," Sai said lightly, standing up to stretch. "But Sasuke-kun, you are an uninvited guest. Please remove yourself. I have business with Naruto-kun and you are intruding upon that."</p><p>Sasuke gaped. "No," he said with horror. He knew the peaky bastard would try to turn that into something perverted! "Any business you have, had better not be-"</p><p>"It's none of your concern, Sasuke," Naruto said. He looked shifty, as if he didn't really believe his own words. "Just leave."</p><p>"Or stay," Sai said, pulling Naruto up off the couch and into a deep kiss.</p><p>Naruto twitched as their bodies pressed full-length against each other, and tried to pull away but Sai was persistent and eventually the blond's eyes closed in defeat. The shamed blush that blazed across his tanned cheeks incited Sasuke to fury.</p><p>Sasuke leapt over the couch, intent on strangling the life from Sai before the other boy could fully molest his best friend.</p><p>He managed to knock Naruto aside and rode Sai to the ground, wrapping his hands around his throat and pinning the other boy's legs with his as he sat astride him. Sai gripped his wrists so that his windpipe would remain whole. He smiled up at Sasuke.</p><p>"That's enough," Sasuke growled.</p><p>Sai's eyes cracked open, and held his. "Is it?" he said lightly. "I can feel you digging into my hip."</p><p>Appalled, Sasuke released him and tried to gain some distance, but Sai held on to his wrists, his smile widening to a grin.</p><p>"I wouldn't mind showing you how things work, since you seem so shy, Sasuke-kun," he said teasingly while grinding his hips upward.</p><p>Sasuke shuddered at the foreign feeling. <em>Naruto, Naruto, Naruto.</em> He knew it was Sai and yet his brain was fixated on how this would feel with the blond. Doing things with Naruto... things like what he had seen on that video. GOD. "Sai, you sick freak! Let go of my arms before I'm forced to hurt you." His voice sounded a bit odd to his own ears, but reasonably authoritative.</p><p>As he moved to stand, he felt himself being hauled to his feet by an irate Naruto. Not only hauled to his feet, but dragged outside, where he expected a torrent of verbal abuse for infringing on the blond's privacy and embarrassing him.</p><p>Once they were outside and a little ways away from Sai's building, Naruto shoved him against a wall, glaring at him as he gripped the collar of Sasuke's shirt in his fist.</p><p>The next thing he knew, Naruto was kissing him hard and dirty, and Sasuke's stomach was doing somersaults as his spine melted. It was better than he had ever imagined a kiss could feel. He pulled Naruto against him, reveling in the heat of his body and the harder heat pressing into his abdomen. His head was spinning as Naruto's hands slipped under his shirt and smoothed firmly up his back.</p><p>Sasuke had never been this aroused in his life.</p><p>He panted as Naruto kissed down his neck and sucked at his skin. It was overwhelming. It was wonderful. It was torturous. His belly was aching with desire and he wanted nothing more than to push Naruto down onto any horizontal surface, and take things as far as they could go.</p><p>"Naruto..."</p><p>"I can't believe you let him do that," the blond muttered against his neck.</p><p>"..." <em>I didn't</em> let <em>him do anything</em>, he wanted to say, but Naruto was speaking again.</p><p>"If I had known you weren't a total prude, I would have said something sooner..."</p><p>"I'm not a prude," Sasuke said angrily, though it came out rather breathy.</p><p>"You are," Naruto assured him hazily, as he moved in to recapture Sasuke's lips. Sasuke shuddered at the sensual tone of them. He'd never seen Naruto like this. He was so... so...</p><p>Sasuke found words were failing him. <em>Sexy</em>, <em>demanding</em>, <em>vulnerable</em>, none of those things fully captured how the blond looked and felt to him in this moment. "You let him kiss you," he accused suddenly, a belated come-back he hadn't meant to voice. <em>Oh, why can I not keep my mouth shut?</em> He didn't want to piss Naruto off, or otherwise ruin the moment...</p><p>"I'll kick his ass for that later," Naruto said distractedly. "And for trying stuff on you... but..."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Would you hate me if I said... that I loved the look on your face as much as I wanted to knee him in the nuts?"</p><p>"Ah..." Sasuke wasn't sure how to respond.</p><p>"I couldn't stand it anymore... seeing you make expressions like that..." Naruto's hand trailed down Sasuke's stomach. "Stupid Sai." Naruto's mouth latched onto his neck as the blond's questing hand palmed him.</p><p>Sasuke smothered the noise that threatened to escape him, as his focus narrowed to the spot where Naruto was touching him. This was not the place for such things... they were barely in an alley for God's sake. But... <em>Oh</em>, he couldn't bear to make Naruto stop. "Naru...to..." he groaned as the blond's hand slipped underneath his waistband unbidden and took hold of his desperate flesh. "Ah..."</p><p>Naruto's fingers were like the hand of god, seeming to transform him with every brush. Every stroke was bringing him closer to the shining edge of this painful desire. He was so hard he felt he would burst. He gripped Naruto's shoulders, thinking suddenly that they should stop, that he should push Naruto away before anything happened to change their relationship to something more than friends. "Do...be," he panted, not finding the strength to do more than hold on to his best friend as he was kissed again thoroughly. He cried out suddenly into the dampening hush of the blond's mouth as his body began to shake in staggering tremors of release.</p><p>"Sasuke," Naruto said huskily, brushing his lips over the other boy's flushed cheeks. "Will you come to my place?"</p><p>Dazed, Sasuke agreed.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <strong>TBC</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Pests</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</b>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p class="p1"><b>Summary: </b>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 2: The Pests</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>Sasuke woke the next morning with a niggling feeling that something... <em>something</em>... was heinously wrong. It was almost enough to make him try to regain his previously unconscious state, but his mind liked to torment him relentlessly, so he found himself surveying his surroundings instead.</p><p>It did not put him at ease.</p><p>Oh, no. Not at all.</p><p>The state of chaos he found himself engulfed in was quite enough to make him run screaming into the dark depths of his own private hell, but that was typical of the mess in Naruto's apartment. What really got to him in that moment - besides the fact that he could not remember much of the previous night <em>and</em> that he was on the couch with tan arm flung over his naked stomach - was the sight of a used condom on the living room floor.</p><p>No, not only that...</p><p>What bothered <em>even more</em>, was that he could not even say whether its use had occurred during the gaping hole in his memory or even which of them might have used it.</p><p>
  <em>Did we really...?</em>
</p><p>He stared at it as if it were about to move. He peered at it from where it lay enshrined by a lazy ring of scattered bottles of alcohol, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a knock at the door.</p><p>He shrugged out from under Naruto, grabbing the thin blanket that had been covering them to cover himself as he went to see who it was, and the blond didn't even twitch. Sasuke considered kicking him awake as he started to snore softly, but decided it would only increase the discomfort of the situation. He hobbled towards the door, cursing as he almost tripped and fell several times over the sprawling clutter that inhabited the floor.</p><p><em>This is all Sai's fault,</em> he decided with irritation.</p><p>He wrenched the door open, feeling a storm cloud brewing over his head with every continuing moment of wakefulness.</p><p>On the stoop, looking back at him, was perhaps the last person he wanted to see. He stared at them a moment, then promptly slammed the door in their faces.</p><p>Their, as in both of them.</p><p>For there were, in fact, two someones on the stoop...either of whom would be the last person he wanted to see. He was starting to hate green.</p><p>"Sasuke?" came the sleepy yawn from the blond on the couch. "Who was it?"</p><p>Sasuke gave him a steely glare. <em>Did you use that condom, or did I? Did we really have sex or are you just that much of a slob?</em></p><p>Naruto blinked back at him. "What?"</p><p>Sasuke then glared pointedly at the discarded piece of off-white latex in its fairy ring of inhibition-reducing wreckage.</p><p>Naruto leaned over the edge of the couch to look, promptly turned bright red, and started stammering out something incomprehensible - the clarity of which was further destroyed by the blond's discovery that he was very much nude.</p><p>The visitors could still be heard outside. One pounded on the door. "Sasuke-kun!" the younger one called out. "Invite us in! You are being extremely rude, and that is not befitting of a ninja in the flower of his youth."</p><p>"Come back later!" he hollered back.</p><p>"Is that... Lee?" Naruto asked him with confusion.</p><p>"Sasuke-kun," a deeper voice called out. "Sodomy is not necessarily wrong, but I think you should take some time to reconsider..."</p><p>Sasuke put a hand over his face. "And Guy-sensei," he muttered.</p><p>"W-What's that he's saying about sodomy?" Naruto squeaked.</p><p>A sudden puff of smoke obscured Naruto from his vision as Guy appeared next to him. The older man put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, startling the bejeebus out of him. He stood stock still, feeling very inadequate with nothing but the sheet wrapped around his hips. Though, not nearly as inadequate as Naruto, who was desperately trying to cover his boy bits with his hands. His blue eyes were as wide as saucers.</p><p>Sasuke locked gazes with him, and they were most assuredly thinking the same thing. <em>Don't look at it!</em>It was amazingly hard to keep their eyes from twitching to the rubber on the floor, disastrous as that would be.</p><p>"As I was saying, Sasuke-kun, there is still time to nip this in the bud...Hm? What's that?"</p><p>"UH... Can I make anyone some tea?" Naruto offered quickly.</p><p>"Well, I wouldn't recommend it unless you put some clothes on," Lee said reasonably, having climbed in via the unlatched window. "You might burn yourself."</p><p>"I'll be fine," Naruto assured him, embarrassment burning his face as he jumped up, hands still positioned for maximum coverage. "What kind would you like, Guy-sensei? Green tea? Red? Oolong?" As he distracted the man with the choices, he sidled over to the fairy ring of bottles and kicked some clutter over top of it. "Haha, well, I'll just get dressed while you think it over."</p><p>The blond scuttled out of the room backwards, somehow not tripping over the piles of junk, and Sasuke was left alone with the two bowl-cut sporting ninja.</p><p>"Ah..." Sasuke said. Awkward did not properly express the unpleasant feel in the air. "So what brings you by Naruto's so early in the morning?"</p><p>"SODOMY," Lee announced.</p><p>Sasuke successfully prevented himself from losing hold of the blanket as his hand spasmed in startled surprise, but it was close. This candid little scene was forcing his eyes wider than he would have thought possible, and his skin was itching with the need to be <em>anywhere</em> else right now. His dark eyes whipped to the side as Guy, despite Sasuke's fervent wishes, began to make this even more torturous by speaking.</p><p>Guy nodded in affirmation of his pupil's proclamation, and addressed the half-naked Uchiha. "I heard of your concern for young Naruto, and thought I would check up on him for you." He rubbed his chin and leveled Sasuke with a stern look. "Sodomy is a <em>tricky beast</em>, Sasuke-kun, you must be aware of its potential to occur at ANY TIME and be prepared to resist temptation." He nodded sagely. "Deeply caring for a friend or a pupil can lead to <strong>danger</strong>..."</p><p>Guy smiled then, a sparkle glinting off of his teeth, nice-guy style. "It's a <em>good thing</em> we got here when we did."</p><p>Sasuke, meanwhile, was edging towards the other side of the living room, trying to escape.</p><p>He could borrow clothes from Naruto, he thought. As long as the two spandex-clad ninja didn't realize he was as bare as the blond was under the shield of his blanket, he could coast on their misconceptions.</p><p>"Uh, hey, Sasuke, you wanna borrow-"</p><p>Naruto's voice startled him, making him turn slightly to look, instigating the inception of the <strong>Worst Case Scenario</strong>. Something from the junk heap caught at his foot and he was falling.</p><p>Falling... and losing the blanket. It waved before his outstretched fingers, flapping just out of reach as he hit the floor. <em>Shiiiiiit!</em></p><p>Dignity prevented Sasuke from remembering the following three and a half minutes.</p><p>The next thing he knew, he was sitting in Naruto's room, on his bed, wearing a pair of grotesquely colored boxer shorts that had little 'X's over a plethora of Uchiha clan symbols, accompanied by obnoxiously happy evil smilie faces. They were purple.</p><p>"Er... about those," Naruto said with embarrassment. "I forgot to do laundry - I mean - they uh... aren't mine..."</p><p>"Nevermind that, Naruto, give me some pants, and tell me what the hell we're going to do about THEM." He jerked his head towards the direction of the living room.</p><p>"How the hell am I supposed to know?" the blond gestured wildly. "For all I know, they're crazy. Maybe <em>you</em> should tell my why they keep going on about... about..."</p><p>"Sodomy?" Sasuke said drolly.</p><p>Naruto flushed slightly. "Yes, that. By the way, I really haven't done any laundry. All I have is what you're wearing and a pair of my usual pants..." he trailed off. "That I...uh, wore for a few hours the other day. Sorry."</p><p>Sasuke gave him a <em>Glare of Death</em>. "Where are they?" Better the pants than being caught in these boxer shorts.</p><p>Naruto cringed and leaned over to pick a pair of blindingly orange pants off the floor. He held them out apologetically.</p><p>Sasuke growled, but accepted them, putting them on with an expression akin to curdled milk. As he fastened them, he noted they hung low enough on his hips (he was a little slimmer than Naruto) that the wretchedness of the boxers was exposed. Great. Purple, orange and black. He felt like a fucking Halloween party favor. "Shirt?" he demanded.</p><p>Naruto shook his head mutely.</p><p>Sasuke wished he would stop staring. "<em>Dobe</em>," he cursed. He felt ridiculous enough as it was without the blond gawking at his less than perfect appearance. Besides, Naruto had no room to laugh at him - <em>he</em> was wearing a pair of black boxers that proclaimed "Sassy" all over them in various colors of neon text. Sasuke didn't ask. He didn't want to know.</p><p>"Do they, uh... know anything?" Naruto asked nervously, his eyes trained on Sasuke's bare torso.</p><p>Naruto was SO not asking him this right now, Sasuke fumed internally, feeling the color rising in his cheeks.</p><p>Blue eyes met his awkwardly as the other boy continued, "That we... um..." The blond scratched at his arm and then began studying the floor as if with great interest as his face began to darken with a blush. "...you know."</p><p>"No, I don't know," Sasuke said gruffly, grabbing him by the shoulder. "I can barely remember coming over here last night, where we must've drank a hell of a lot judging by the bottles on the living room floor." He leaned in, gazing unflinchingly into the oceans of Naruto's eyes and the blond leaned away, looking cagey. "Just what happened last night?"</p><p>"N-Nothing! I don't know!" Naruto was a horrible liar. He also looked strangely appealing with sleep-rumpled hair.</p><p>"I um, have to brush my teeth," he exclaimed, shrugging off Sasuke's hand. He bolted out of the room.</p><p>Sasuke stared at his hand, still feeling the warmth of tanned skin on his palm and a misguided desire to bring his lips into contact with his friend's. <em>Insane. Definitely going off the deep end fast.</em> He left the room and tried to convince himself that he hadn't also been checking out Naruto's bare chest with more than passing interest.</p><p>Naruto was not usually self-conscious, but bugger all - <em>today</em> was an exception.</p><p>Every time he caught his best friend's dark eyes on him, he was having the unerring tendency to fumble what was in his hands or stutter 'um's like they were going outta style. Nasty habit. He hated being nervous. He also hated spilling hot tea all over his hands simply because he got distracted looking at the epic perfection that was Sasuke's washboard abs.</p><p>So here he was, making tea for his unwanted guests AGAIN, all the while fretting over the fact that Sasuke didn't remember their night of sordid love. Not that he completely remembered either... they really had drank more than was advisable. But after their brief interlude outside Sai's apartment... <em>God</em>, just remembering how it had felt to touch his friend like that...</p><p>After <em>that</em>, there was no way he was going to let Sasuke change his mind about going further. And the dark-haired boy <em>had</em> been showing signs of reconsidering by the time they'd made it to Naruto's apartment. For his own part, he was feeling jittery as well, so he decided that getting themselves totally smashed was a fantastic idea.</p><p>Unfortunately, the haze of alcohol, while allowing them to act on impulses that might never see the light of day, had obscured the little details. Like who had buggered who. Though whichever way it had been, it had been the most incredible feeling of Naruto's life.</p><p>Had Sasuke really forgotten <em>everything</em>?</p><p>Naruto risked another look at the dark-haired ninja. He was gorgeous.</p><p>"Fuck," Naruto seethed as he realized he'd knocked over the sugar jar. That's it. Sasuke was bad for his health. Bad for his concentration, his motor skills, and bad for keeping his thoughts from sinking even further into the gutter that they were happily making into their new home. Why now? He'd decided ages ago that he would never let on to his sort-of attraction for his best friend, and now it was raging out of control.</p><p><em>Stupid Sai.</em> It was all his fault!</p><p>A hand on his caused Naruto to nearly jump through the ceiling. Sasuke. He froze, more than a little aware of how close the other boy was standing, and that he could feel the heat of Sasuke's body radiating against the bare skin of his back. His hand clenched tighter on the sugar jar's lid where it rested on the counter.</p><p>"Dobe, I should have known you couldn't even handle making tea," Sasuke said under his breath in mild exasperation, leaning over Naruto's shoulder. His voice was right next to Naruto's ear and contained a deeper thrum than usual. The blond's thoughts were having a field day in that gutter. "Let me," the dark-haired boy insisted, encouraging Naruto to release his death grip on the ceramic lid.</p><p>Slim, pale fingers pried Naruto's off of the piece of crockery. Naruto was overly preoccupied with the fact that Sasuke's arms had to encircle him to do so. The gutter-thoughts were dancing. They almost died of joy when Naruto felt lips brush against the side of his neck. He himself almost died of embarrassment for, unlike them, he remembered they had company.</p><p>He jumped back and slapped a fake grin on his face. "T-Thanks, Sasuke, I'll leave it to you then!" Being overly exuberant was a nervous habit, too. Retreating to the safer distraction of green spandex clad guests, he noticed (and thanked the gods) that the two ninja had been holding a conversation and had missed the whole thing.</p><p>"Naruto-kun," Guy said, waving him over to the third barstool and pulling him into their discussion.</p><p>It was nothing worth mentioning.</p><p>He glanced back at Sasuke, who quickly looked away, busying himself with tea. Strange. The mugs and spoons were already out so he wouldn't have been needing help finding anything...</p><p>A few minutes later the dark-haired shirtless ninja brought over a tray with the tea and began handing them out. Guy, Lee, and then Naruto. He paused at Naruto, quirking a slender brow in query as he gave him his mug.</p><p>Naruto wrote it off as nothing, and took a sip of his tea. It was as he lowered the mug that he realized the reason. It was <em>that</em> mug. One he never would have taken out for company. A gift from Sai on his last birthday, the black mug proclaimed: "Blonds do it harder, faster, longer" in a yellow, gothic font and had an unremovable pair of mini handcuffs dangling from the handle. His face started to flush. Sasuke must've snooped in his cabinets while he wasn't looking and switched it out!</p><p><em>Bastard!</em> he glared at his friend in outrage. Said bastard merely smirked in amusement, obviously curious to know why such a mug was in his possession.</p><p>
  <em>Damn you, Sai!</em>
</p><p>"So, Naruto..." Guy was saying, turning to face him.</p><p>Naruto hurriedly tried to cover as much of the mug's text as possible while preventing the mini-cuffs from jingling. <em>OW!</em>It was HOT! "Mmmhmm?" he said through a pained smile.</p><p>"I hear that Hokage-sama is sending your team out to Water Country tomorrow..." He paused. "Sai seems an odd replacement for Sakura..."</p><p>Sasuke set his mug down with a thump. "What did you say?"</p><p>"That Sai is replacing Sakura-san," Lee repeated. "You <em>were</em> aware that she injured herself last week while training for an advanced medical technique, were you not?" His tone implied that Sasuke had better be aware.</p><p>"Of course," Sasuke scoffed. "Even Naruto knew that. Right, Naruto?" A brief flick of dark eyes let Naruto know it was a bald-faced lie, which he had better back up <em>or else</em>.</p><p>"Um, yeah," Naruto said, inwardly cursing his 'um's. "But we hadn't heard anything about Sai."</p><p>"Hmm," Guy said. "I did just overhear it from Shizune... Maybe she got it wrong."</p><p>"Or maybe you mis-heard?" Sasuke suggested, annoyed that the teacher-nin perpetually avoided admitting fault, as if it were merely <em>unthinkable</em> that he could be wrong.</p><p>Guy waved off the comment. "In any case, you two should sort this out so you can begin making preparations."</p><p>The man downed the rest of the tea and let out a sigh of appreciation. "Thank you for the tea, Naruto." He turned to Lee who was diligently chugging his tea in imitation. "Come, my pupil, for we must <em>train</em>," he said in his talk-show host voice. "A lazy ninja is a dead ninja." He let out an embarrassingly cheesy laugh which echoed loudly in the tiny space and disappeared in a puff of smoke.</p><p>Lee finished his tea and set the mug down with emphasis. "Kyaaaaaaaaa-" His fist came up to his face and his eyes gleamed with tears of awe. "Isn't Guy-sensei just amazing? And so profound, too." He jumped up from the stool. "Well then, I must be off! Thanks for the tea, Naruto."</p><p>Naruto nodded, and Lee was off in a flash.</p><p>Sasuke turned to the blond, an annoyed look on his face. "They did realize that <strong>I</strong> made it, right?"</p><p>Naruto let his head rest on the counter. "No, probably not... But at least they're gone."</p><p>The mission's participants were just as Guy had predicted, and the atmosphere lived up to what Sasuke had dreaded.</p><p>The four of them sped towards Water Country, leaping from bough to bough in the dense forest outside Leaf Village, on the first leg of a journey which promised to be every bit as painful as the pre-mission meeting.</p><hr/><p>"Eh?" Naruto had complained upon the Hokage's debriefing. "We need a squad leader? What the hell, hag, we're adults!"</p><p>Sasuke nodded in agreement, despite wanting to beat Naruto in the head for being so loud and annoying this early in the morning.</p><p>"Shut it, kid," Tsunade growled. "Now, as I was saying-"</p><p>"What's wrong with one of us being the lead?" he persisted. "Like me!"</p><p>The Hokage frowned and folded her fan with a snap. "Let me lay it to you straight. You, Naruto," she whipped the fan in an arc, stopping it just under the blond's nose, "are too brash, excitable and impatient." The fan pointed at Sasuke. "You, Uchiha, let your anger get the best of you and are not very good at working with others." Her eyes flicked to Sai for emphasis before settling on the pale boy fully. "And you, Sai, know very well why I cannot entrust you with this mission."</p><p>Sai nodded, his mask of a placid smile not wavering from his face.</p><p>"Huh?" Naruto said, looking back and forth.</p><p>"Dobe," Sasuke muttered under his breath, "it means she can't be certain of his loyalties due to the stuff that happened last year with Danzou."</p><p>"Oh-" Naruto started to say.</p><p>"And for you, Sasuke-kun," Sai said in his cordial voice, smiling and not bothering to look at the other boy. "It was nice of the Hokage to refrain from mentioning your lack of suitability due to your untrustworthiness. I'm surprised she even let you back in the village after your escapades with Orochimaru." He smirked as Sasuke emit a low growl. "I would say that anger management is the <em>least</em>of your failings. Your ability to utterly betray everyone you ever knew, however..."</p><p>Sasuke launched himself at the other boy, intent on his blood. <em>So I made a mistake! Fine! I don't need this sarcastic little bitch rubbing it in my face!</em></p><p>Sai's eyes opened and the smile dropped off of his face as he reached for his scroll and ink brush. He looked ready and willing to fight.</p><p>Before the two could collide, Tsunade hooked an arm around Sasuke's neck with lightning speed, placing him in a choke-hold with her inhuman strength. "SAI," she barked at the other boy, stilling the short-haired ninja's attack. He paused with his brush just touching the paper. "Kids," she muttered.</p><p>After a fifteen minute lecture on people skills and learning to hold your temper, she released them. "Good luck, kiddos," she said with false cheer, and kicked them out of her office.</p><p>Now, nearly an hour later, mission underway, Sasuke was still seething. He knew the Hokage would be watching him closely since his return, and that he would have to work hard to prove himself. For god's sake, though, he'd only been 15 at the time. Everyone makes dumb mistakes when they're young. Plus, he hated the whole thing being brought up in front of Naruto, whom he'd hurt the most. Naruto, whose eyes always dimmed and whose face assumed a painfully fake smile at the mere mention of it.</p><p>
  <em>Fucking Sai.</em>
</p><p>Tsunade probably only assigned Kakashi as squad leader because she knew how likely Sasuke was to try and kill his mouthy doppelganger. Otherwise, this mission could have been handled by a three man squad, with one of them acting as the authority.</p><p>Kakashi, with whom Sasuke had trained extensively one-on-one, his sensei, was rather blasé about the whole affair.</p><p>"Kill each other if you want," he'd said blandly the moment they were ejected from the Hokage's office, nose in his illicit book. "But please do it after the mission is completed, or else I will be forced to <em>intervene</em>."</p><hr/><p>Sasuke shuddered. If there was one person you didn't want to cross... (well, on the 'good guy' side, he amended) it was Hatake Kakashi.</p><p>The Scarecrow.</p><p>The guy fought dirty, and seemed to have no compunctions about it. And his perversions knew no bounds. The two made a deadly combination.</p><p>He glanced at the silver-haired ninja who was well ahead of their group. <em>Maybe now...</em></p><p>Things had happened so fast the other day, and what with the sudden awkwardness between himself and the blond, they had parted ways before ever really... discussing what had happened. It wasn't everyday that you woke up naked in bed with your best friend. They needed to talk about this, or at least, agree to forget about it. "Naru-"</p><p>"What are you thinking about, Sasuke-kun?" Sai said then, dropping in beside him and ruining his opportunity to pull Naruto aside. His tone was innocent, but Sasuke knew better. "You look so serious. I could almost say that you were pondering something deep and meaningful, if I didn't know you better."</p><p>Sasuke said nothing in reply. He wouldn't manage to be civil if he spoke, and another fight would be in the making.</p><p>"Ah, and now you are ignoring me," the pale boy said with mock hurt. "It's rude, Sasuke-kun, though quite consistent of you."</p><p>"Isn't there someone else you could be bothering?" Sasuke said through clenched teeth.</p><p>"Hmn, I suppose I could lavish my attention on Naruto-kun, but I get the feeling you would have a hissy-fit, so I refrained in the name of keeping the peace. One of us has to be mature, after all."</p><p>"You..." Sasuke could feel his eye twitching. He could not, for the life of him see how Naruto and Sakura had been able to stand this guy being on their team. Everything he said was offensive and skewed!</p><p>"By the way, it's totally obvious that you two pounded each other. Was it good? I bet you were on the bottom."</p><p>Sasuke lost his footing.</p><p>He used his chakra to keep from falling out of the tree, but ended up hanging upside-down under a large branch. <em>What in the hell is with this guy?!</em> He allowed himself a moment of deep breathing, before righting himself, and counted to 10, twice.</p><p>Sai backtracked, and crouched down to look at him from a nearby bough. "You ok? We're falling behind." His face was bland, as usual, giving no indication of the outrageous things he had just said.</p><p>"Just fine," Sasuke growled.</p><p>"Hey, don't get so touchy. It's not my fault you got so drunk you can't remember anything."</p><p>"Wha-" How in the hell did he know about that?</p><p>"Hurry the hell up, Sasuke-kun, they're getting too far ahead of us." He leapt to Sasuke's branch and offered him a hand. Sasuke ignored it, which they both expected, and righted himself. "Oh, and to answer your question," Sai said with a smile, "Naruto-kun told me." With that, the short-haired ninja moved ahead and left Sasuke trailing behind.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TBC</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Infamous Sai</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</b>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p class="p1"><b>Summary: </b>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 3: The Infamous Sai</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>They broke camp that night, just after sundown.</p><p>Sasuke, wanting desperately to be away from Sai, who seemed to be taking great joy in antagonizing him, offered to scout for food. Alone. For now, he was giving up on getting Naruto alone so they could talk. Even if he were to manage it, Sai's words were sticking in his mind like half-chewed gum that had been left to bake in the sun on unsuspecting concrete. He wondered how much Naruto remembered. The blond had been avoiding the topic rather cagily when it had come up previously. <em>Had</em> it been bad?</p><p>"Pssssst. Sasukeeeee."</p><p>Sasuke paused. Naruto was following him stealthily. He allowed the blond to catch up. "What are you doing?"</p><p>Naruto waved off his question. "I told them I had to go to the bathroom. I wanted to talk to you."</p><p>"I should think you talked to Sai enough to meet all your talking needs," he said sharply.</p><p>"Uh...but...I didn't really say anything to Sai..."</p><p>"Don't lie. You're too obvious."</p><p>"Really!" Naruto insisted. "Well, I, uh, did sort of tell him we got drunk, but that was only because he kept asking where we went off to the other day when we left his place."</p><p>"That's it?"</p><p>"Um...yeah."</p><p>"Naruto," Sasuke warned, giving him the evil eye.</p><p>"Gah! Okay, okay, so I sort of hinted that maybe something happened."</p><p>"Why would you do that? You know what he's like - now he's got more fodder for instigating things with me!"</p><p>"S-Sorry." Naruto dropped his big blue eyes to stare at the ground. "But it seemed easier to talk to him than you."</p><p>"You found it easier to talk to <em>that guy</em> than your best friend?"</p><p>Naruto glared at him stubbornly. "Yeah, I did."</p><p>"Fine, whatever. Just forget the whole thing." Sasuke tried to put his mind back on the task of scrounging up food.</p><p>"See? This is why it's hard to talk to you," the blond said with frustration, following him. "Something bothers you, and you just close up and get snappish."</p><p>It was Sasuke's turn to glare. "So you'd rather to talk to a sexually-depraved freak that forces kisses upon you while other people are around? You put more weight on <em>his</em> advice?"</p><p>"Stop being an asshole. Sai's my friend, too."</p><p>"Or maybe you weren't being forced into a kiss? Maybe you do that all the time, and this thing with me was the fluke you want to forget?" Sasuke knew his tone was becoming more and more unpleasant. Caustic, really. But he couldn't help it. The notion he'd just voiced was inspiring the most rageful jealousy.</p><p>"ARGGH!" Naruto yelled, not bothering to keep their location hidden from their teammates. "You're driving me <em>insane</em>!"</p><p>"Likewise," Sasuke snarled. "The last think I need is that bastard commenting on my sex life, because <em>someone</em> couldn't keep his mouth shut."</p><p>"Well, at least I can remember some of it!" the blond snapped. "Unlike some people who can't hold their alcohol. Or maybe you needed to drink yourself into a mindless stupor before you could even unwedge that stick you have up your ass."</p><p>"NARUTO, you did <em>not</em> just say that to me." Sasuke was really starting to get pissed off.</p><p>"I'll say it again if you couldn't hear me the first time."</p><p>"<em>Dobe</em>, I am going to rip your freaking head off..."</p><p>"Go ahead and try it." Naruto stuck his tongue out, and his eyes were squinted closed angrily. "Unless that stick is making it too hard for you to move fast enough-uugh!" Naruto's words were cut off with an explosive exhale as Sasuke knocked him to the ground. Momentarily dazed, it took him a minute to fight back, but he was already pinned.</p><p>Sasuke was torn - on the one hand, he was really angry, and on the other, he was being reminded rather emphatically about why straddling Naruto was always a bad idea. It was distracting. Way too distracting.</p><p>Naruto used that to his advantage, squirming up out of Sasuke's hold and knocking him back several feet onto the ground.</p><p>Sasuke had barely sucked in a breath of air and Naruto was pinning him to the earth. Naruto's thighs clenched about his hips, other parts of him pressed into his lap, and Sasuke couldn't help the small noise that he made in the back of his throat. He covered it by straining against Naruto's grip and grunting with the effort. Naruto straddling <em>him</em> was just as bad. Sasuke's hands were immobile beside his head. He could feel leaves beneath them, crunching as the blond's weight shifted and lips pressed against his own.</p><p>It was like that first kiss outside of Sai's. Hot. Intense. It shot straight to his groin, and fanned out along his limbs, making the resistance in them falter.</p><p>Naruto pulled back enough to speak. "God, you're such an asshole," he murmured against Sasuke's lips, then kissed him again with bruising force. Sasuke ignored the aspersions to his character and focused on the pressure of Naruto's hips against his, now beginning to move ever so slightly.</p><p>"Well then," somebody said blandly, "I was going to see if you had caught anything yet - but it looks like you've caught Naruto."</p><p>The boys looked up hastily.</p><p>"Hmmn," Kakashi said, as if in thought, staring them down with a gimlet eye, "Or is it Naruto that has caught Sasuke?" The words were light enough but seemed to carry the weight of disapproval that only a high ranking Jounin could instill.</p><p>They were frozen in horror.</p><p>"Oh, don't mind me," their leader said pleasantly, his visible eye turning up in a smile. "Please just carry on." Was that sarcasm? "You'll get a reprimand either way when we get back so you might as well enjoy yourselves." Whistling a tune, he turned his back on them and disappeared.</p><p>Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, faces flushed from what they'd been doing and being <em>caught</em> at what they'd been doing.</p><p>"Well, this is awkward..." Naruto said sheepishly. "I'll, um... just be going back to camp then." He released Sasuke's hands and crawled off of him.</p><p>Sasuke accepted his outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet. "He has a point, though." Sasuke's body was throbbing, crying out against the loss of the blond's heat. "We'll get in trouble either way... might as well earn it." He pushed Naruto up against the trunk of a large tree until their bodies were touching, full length, and sought the softness of the other boy's mouth.</p><p>Naruto moaned into the kiss, and his hips shifted against Sasuke's. The sensations were heady. Sasuke kissed him harder and hiked one of the blond's legs over his hip, stroking the underside of his thigh as he rocked forward. Naruto whimpered and squirmed against him, his hands finding Sasuke's backside and digging in as he pulled Sasuke in tighter against him.</p><p>This was not the place to be doing this.</p><p>But the pleasure was too intense for either of them to stop. The sort of intense where you knew it wouldn't take long, but you'd be damned if you were going to slow things down - afraid that the blinding, powerful friction of it would somehow stop.</p><p>"Sas...uke..." Naruto's arms wrapped around him, holding on for dear life. His breathing was sexy, harsh little pants, punctuated by the odd moan he couldn't hold back.</p><p>Sasuke ground their hips together, a rhythmic pressure that rubbed their arousals against each others' with devastating precision.</p><p>"Mmn..."</p><p>Sasuke used his free hand to slide beneath the blond's shirt and jacket, to touch smooth warm skin. He could feel the muscles jerking in Naruto's stomach at his touch, the tensing in his body, and the increasingly frantic motion of his hips. It all blurred into an undeniable stimulus that had Sasuke's pleasure peaking. He captured the blond's lips, plundering his mouth and swallowing his gasps as their pace fell apart around them. Naruto's fingers dug into his back as his body suddenly bowed. The feel of it was so erotic, it tipped Sasuke into his own shuddering release.</p><hr/><p>The small campsite felt awkward. The aura of guilt and self-consciousness that pervaded the area, which was shared for the most part by both Naruto <em>and</em> Sasuke, was not diminished in the least by Sai's helpful, "So now that you two are finished banging each other, what about dinner?"</p><p>Now it was much later, and Naruto <em>still</em> wanted to bury his head under a rock.</p><p>No, first a really deep hole, and <em>then</em> a rock. A really heavy one, so if he was still alive under there, it might have the decency to smother him and finish the job.</p><p>He'd meant to <em>talk</em> to Sasuke when he'd followed him earlier. He'd wanted to try and sort things out. The fighting was unintentional, yet not entirely unexpected, but wholly aggravating and it was the last thing he would have thought to be a prelude to... other things.</p><p>Truth be told, it was a blur. One moment they were scuffling and angry, and the next they were kissing and...</p><p>Naruto edited the scene in his head, not needing the flush he felt looming over him to make its presence known on his face.</p><p>He poked one of the spitted fish that was cooking over the fire. Not done yet. He looked at Sasuke from the corner of his eye. The dark-haired ninja wore a moody expression, though Naruto could tell that this particular one leaned towards discomfort as opposed to being one of ire. It was subtle, and he had no idea how many other people would be able to distinguish such a difference (even if Naruto had put out a book called 'Field Guide to Uchiha Decryption').</p><p>Funny how everyone assumed Sasuke was in a perpetually foul, angry mood, and yet his fans seemed to hail it as some kind of godlike trait just <em>because</em> it was Sasuke. If Naruto went around like that, he'd be shunned. Well, more so than before. But take any <em>normal</em> person - they'd be shunned, too. Sasuke was a fluke. A freak of nature. A really good kisser. Amazing, in fact. <em>Damn it, I'm going to fall into the ranks of his fan base!</em></p><p>"Naruto-kun, your head looks like it's steaming," Sai said blandly from next to him.</p><p>"Eh heh heh," he laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, thinking seems to have that effect on me."</p><p>Sai cracked open an eye. "Why do you say things like that? You aren't stupid."</p><p>Naruto let his plastered smile fade. "Force of habit, I guess. Making fun of myself always let me fit in a little better with people. And because of all the pranks and stupid stuff I did when I was a kid, they aren't expecting me to have grown a brain now that I'm older."</p><p>Sai shrugged and worked on a picture in the little book he carried, dipping his sumi brush into the inkpot beside him now and then. "It seems to me that they are the stupid ones. Do they think that Sasuke-kun would really be friends with an idiot?"</p><p>"We were on the same team. They just assume he was stuck with me and that his noble heart had taken pity on me at some point - that he'd decided to <em>pretend</em> we were friends."</p><p>"Hn. I don't see him palling around with Sakura-san."</p><p>"Well, she was in love with him and that made her their rival, so in a way, she doesn't count."</p><p>Sai looked at him. "Why do you know how their minds work? It's disturbing."</p><p>"Years of practice."</p><p>"Then tell me why they worship Sasuke-kun? I can see that he is attractive, skilled, and comes from a prestigious clan, but his disposition is quite unpleasant."</p><p>Naruto sighed, poking the fish again. He was really hungry, damnit. "I don't know, maybe they think he's good in the sack."</p><p>"Is he?"</p><p>Naruto facefaulted. "Wha-" <em>I </em><em><strong>am</strong></em> <em>an idiot. I don't think before I speak.</em> "I mean, uh, I don't know!"</p><p>Sai blinked at him blandly. "You're turning red."</p><p>"No, I'm not," Naruto protested uselessly.</p><p>"So," Sai continued, going back to his ink drawing, "either he really <strong>is</strong> good, or he is epically, embarrassingly bad."</p><p>Naruto chewed on his lip. He didn't want to admit to doing things like that with Sasuke, especially to Sai, but he didn't feel right leaving that last part stand. If Sai ever repeated something like that to Sasuke, supposedly endorsed with Naruto's seal of approval, he didn't like to imagine the fallout that would occur.</p><p>"Um..." Naruto said.</p><p>Sai held his work at arm's length and studied it with a critical eye. "Won't Sasuke-kun's ego be pleased? For it stands to reason that you, being far from an idiot as we discussed earlier, would hardly engage in sex with someone multiple times and blush over it if it was truly awful. I'm jealous."</p><p>Naruto blinked rapidly. Sai was too blunt, it was hard to take in what he was saying sometimes. He focused on the least mind-reeling bit. "Jealous of...?" was all he could manage.</p><p>"I notice that you two fight a lot. If you ever get tired of Sasuke-kun having his head up his ass, would you consider me instead? I am attractive, skilled in all the ways that count, and despite not having a famous heritage, I believe my disposition is far superior to his."</p><p>Blunt.</p><p>Blunt, blunt, <em>blunt</em>.</p><p>Naruto was having a hell of a time processing such a candid response, especially when it seemed that Sai was making a pass at him. Furthermore, how could Sai honestly believe he had the better personality? Between him and Sasuke, it was hard to tell which was <em>worse</em>. Sai came across like a socially maladjusted pervert, and Sasuke acted like a mountainous font of rage and dark angst.</p><p>Naruto wondered sometimes why all the defective ninja seemed to flock around him. Besides these two, he often had to be troubled by the arrogant, yet insistent, attentions of Neji and the nerve-wracking possessiveness of Gaara. And those were just the <em>main</em> ones.</p><p>"Naruto," a smooth, dark voice came from across the fire. Sasuke. "The fish are burning."</p><p>Naruto jumped into action, spouting a few curses as he realized the raven-haired ninja was right. And he'd been watching them so closely, too! "Dammit! Why didn't you just pull them out when they were done, bastard?!"</p><p>Sasuke gave him a disdainful look as he watched Naruto hop around, burning his fingers as he rescued their dinner. "I caught them. Your job was to cook them. I'm not doing your work for you."</p><p>"Yeah? Well don't complain if it isn't cooked to perfection then, Your Highness."</p><p>"Shut it, <em>Dobe</em>. It's not my fault you can't pay attention!"</p><p>"Yeah?! Well it's not <em>my</em> fault that you-"</p><p>This would likely have gone on for the next ten minutes, through dinner, and on into the next hour. Luckily, or unluckily, Kakashi arrived back at the site and put an end to it.</p><p>"All of you, eat," Kakashi said in a voice that came across like a lead pipe to the head. "Then I want Sasuke on watch for the first shift while Naruto and Sai pitch the tents." He leaned back against the tree he sat down in front of, pulled out his book, and began to read. In between turning pages, he ate his fish.</p><p>"Um... Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto ventured, eating his dinner as he'd been commanded.</p><p>"Yes, Naruto?"</p><p>"Why did we bring tents in the first place? I mean... we don't usually..."</p><p>"One, this country is infested with snakes, and the tents will assure you aren't bitten and incapacitated in your sleep." Naruto noticed Sasuke shudder. His friend reeeeeeally hated snakes. Naruto had more of a dislike for the giant, man-eating kind, but their small poison-bearing cousins did not sound like a barrel of fun either. "When any of you keep watch, stick to the trees and you'll be fine. The vipers are ground reptiles. They don't climb."</p><p>"W-What's the second reason?" Naruto asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know what was worse than reason number one.</p><p>"It's going to rain later," the silver haired man said simply, and went back to his book.</p><p>"Che," Sasuke scoffed.</p><p>"By the way," Kakashi said over his book, "The rotation will be Sasuke, Sai, then Naruto, three hours apiece. Sleep while you can. You boys can share one tent, the other is mine."</p><p>Sasuke seemed the most put out by this. "Why do you get your own?" He was mostly concerned about Sai and Naruto sleeping right next to each other, as he did not trust Sai to keep his hands to himself. Also, he was worried about keeping his own hands to himself. Sai, he still had the overwhelming urge to strangle. Naruto... well, the thought of sharing the small tent with Naruto just made him feel anxious.</p><p>"Because, I'm an adult."</p><p>"So are we," Naruto pointed out.</p><p>"Barely," Kakashi said with a bored look, though he still had not looked up from his porn novel. "And you kids irritate me, so it's best for all of us that you are nowhere near me when I am trying to sleep, got it?"</p><p>Naruto grumbled. Kakashi just wanted the extra room to himself, the selfish, lying old coot.</p><p>Sasuke made a pissed-off noise, then disappeared to do his rounds. Naruto and Sai rummaged in their packs for pieces of the two tents, which they assembled while Kakashi lazed by the fire, reading his book.</p><p>"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto stood in front of the team leader with his hands on his hips and a speculative look on his face.</p><p>"No," Kakashi said definitively, and turned a page.</p><p>"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"</p><p>"No," the older ninja clarified, "You cannot borrow my book, you will not borrow my book, and I will never let you see it, even if I die."</p><p>"If you're dead," Sai pointed out, "I don't see where you'd be able to prevent him taking a look."</p><p>"Booby traps," Kakashi said pointedly, "And if you don't mind, some of us are trying to read."</p><p>"If you're going to stay up and do that," Naruto said, "why do Sai and I have to share a tent?"</p><p>"Two hours and forty-five minutes. You might want to get some sleep, because if you fall asleep on your post, I will not be held responsible for what I do to you."</p><p>"But, Sensei," Naruto whined, intentionally being annoying because he a.) hated ambiguous explanations for stupid rules, and b.) though he usually pestered Kakashi about looking at his book, he actually hadn't been planning on doing it <em>this</em> time. "It's <em>small</em>. It's barely a two-man tent." Plus, because he liked to sleep with his arms and legs sprawled everywhere, and he wasn't quite sure how that would work when he was sandwiched into a tiny space with Sai.</p><p>"Leave me the hell alone or I'll tie you both at the base of a tree, naked, and leave you to die a humiliating and excruciating death fraught with snakes, fear, and inadequacy."</p><p>"You'd get in trouble," Naruto pointed out.</p><p>"Only if I got caught," Kakashi stated crisply. "Care to see which of us has better luck?"</p><p>"Naruto-kun, come on, you're wasting time," Sai said, grabbing him by the back of the jacket and hauling him back towards the tent. "Is sleeping with me really that disagreeable?"</p><p>"Well, uh..." Sai said it like he meant <em>sleeping with</em>, not just sleeping next to, so Naruto wasn't sure how to reply. "I'm a restless sleeper and if he's not even going to be using his tent..."</p><p>"I'm a light sleeper, but that's fine. It won't bother me." He opened the flap on the pup tent and held it aside for the blond.</p><p>"Your funeral," Naruto mumbled, wondering if he would be attacked by ink beasts if he accidentally kicked the dark-eyed boy during his nightly flailing.</p><p>"Hardly." Sai zipped the entryway closed behind them, having to squat and lean to the side to do it, due to the cramped space in the olive green tent. Naruto stared at the other boy's abs, wishing his own looked half as good. His own stomach was pretty flat, but it just didn't hold muscle tone like that. He had better luck with his arms and his chest. Speaking of which...</p><p>Naruto unzipped his black and orange jacket and balled it up to stuff under his head as a makeshift pillow. His black undershirt was more than enough to keep him decent in present company. The ground still felt rather hard, but at least he wouldn't be feeling rocks or roots pressing into his skull. He sighed and settled down, trying to convince himself he was comfortable and tired enough to fall asleep in seconds.</p><p>But it was sort of awkward to be squished together with someone like two sardines in a can. There wasn't enough room for personal space, so it wasn't very strange that he could feel Sai's leg against his own. What was odd was that even with Naruto's broad shoulders, their shoulders weren't touching. Naruto cracked open an eye and turned his head a little to find Sai propped up on an elbow, looking down at him, face impassive.</p><p>"What is it?"</p><p>"I was wondering what you thought about the time I kissed you."</p><p>Sai's face was perfectly serene, as if he'd been commenting idly on the weather.</p><p>"Um... I was sort of taken by surprise?"</p><p>"You didn't feel anything?"</p><p>Naruto felt his face starting to grow hot. He actually <em>had</em> been worried about a scenario like this when he'd objected to Kakashi about sharing the tent. He would be in close quarters with someone who had kissed him and, just recently, had expressed the desire to have... intimate relations with him. (He couldn't bring himself to say 'sex', especially not when Sai was casually touching his stomach and peering at him from only a foot away.) "I-I was distracted. I mean, Sasuke had just-"</p><p>"But he isn't here now, is he?"</p><p>Naruto swallowed. "No," he affirmed reluctantly as his stomach turned a few triple-cartwheels. "But..."</p><p>"Then there are no distractions," Sai said simply.</p><p>Naruto's heart caught nervously in his throat as Sai moved forward. He shrunk back a little as if the ground could swallow him up, but it pushed back against his attempts to disappear and offered him up to the kiss that pressed upon his lips and slid between them. It rattled him sometimes that Sai and Sasuke were so similar - they even kissed in nearly the same way. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he tentatively kissed back and contemplated the very real problem he was facing.</p><p>He realized that he did like Sai. He hadn't known him as long as he'd known Sasuke, and what he felt was not exactly the same, but it was there.</p><p><em>What if all Sasuke and I can do is fight and... </em>(Don't say 'have sex'.)</p><p><em>...have sex?</em> (Dammit.)</p><p>
  <em>And if it were Sai... I don't know what I would be dealing with. I don't even know much about his past. Just little things...</em>
</p><p>Naruto was broken out of his thoughts by a particularly adventurous hand that was making its acquaintance with his nether regions. "H-Hey - what are you doing?" Naruto hissed.</p><p>"I'm touching your cock, I should think that was obvious."</p><p>Ok, <em>this</em> was what he would be dealing with, <em>Mr. Blunt</em>. "I k-know <em>that</em>," he stammered angrily, blushing red and fighting to remove Sai's hand which was surprisingly stalwart in its position. "I guess I meant <em>why</em>-"</p><p>"Well, why not? You seem to be enjoying it." Sai squeezed his hand to demonstrate his point.</p><p>Naruto bit his lip, and hoped to god that Kakashi was thoroughly immersed in his book and wasn't hearing any of this.</p><p>"Sai, I need to sleep," Naruto said with finality and only a little desperation. He did, it was true, though it was wildly off topic. But Naruto felt that discussing the ins and outs of first base through third would seem inconsequential to the other boy. <em>'Kissing does not constitute groping,'</em> he could say. <em>'Why not?'</em> would be the answer. <em>'If it feels good, why not do it?'</em> Why indeed. Yes, it was the sort of circular argument that would eventually wear him down, confuse him, and end up leaving him with his pants around his ankles.</p><p>"You're right." Sai drew back, unoffended and vaguely apologetic. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I wasn't thinking about that."</p><p>It was strange to hear the dark-haired ninja apologize when it was really <em>his</em> sleep that was being cut the shortest. "Um," Naruto said, trying to distract himself from his body's insistent relocation of blood to areas that did not involve his brain. "You're up for next watch though, not me..." Naruto tried to catch an expression off of the pale boy's face as Sai lay down next to him, arms behaving themselves. "Won't you be tired?"</p><p>"I'll be fine. I've gone days without sleep during training."</p><p>"Oh." Naruto felt somewhat left out. "Y-yeah, me, too." His team had never done any hardcore training like that. And why not? He was sure he could handle it.</p><p>Sai folded his hands underneath his head. "Oh? Then I wonder why you need sleep so badly all of a sudden. Long night last night?" He implied things with his tone that just weren't civilized.</p><p>Naruto wanted to smack himself in the forehead for ruining his own excuse. "N-no. Um, training. I was training for a long time and I uh didn't get much sleep last night since I was excited about the mission."</p><p>Naruto could see well enough in the dark to watch Sai's flat black eyes slide his way, accompanied by raised eyebrows. He looked unimpressed. "You suck at lying."</p><p>"I-I do not!" Naruto protested. Then, "I mean, I wasn't!" <em>Crap.</em></p><p>Sai sighed. "You're pathetic."</p><p>"Am not," Naruto grumbled.</p><p>"Go to sleep if you're so tired."</p><p>"I will," Naruto crossed his arms in a huff. "Just as soon as you quit insulting me."</p><p>"I haven't insulted you."</p><p>"You just called me pathetic!"</p><p>"Well, you are. If you wanted so badly not to be kissed, you could have said so."</p><p>"I-It isn't that! I just didn't expect you to start <em>groping</em> me..." Naruto could feel his face flushing again. He scowled.</p><p>Sai propped himself up on his elbow and fixed Naruto with a deadpan look. "So a kiss was fine?"</p><p>"Kind of," Naruto muttered. Was there a way to explain that he felt sort of tied in to his not-relationship with Sasuke and that wanting to kiss someone else made him feel guilty?</p><p>"What was wrong with touching you, then? I never took you for a prude."</p><p>"I'm not..."</p><p>"In that case, you're over-thinking things and obviously have no idea what you want."</p><p>"I'm not..." Naruto was running out of innovative protests to things that sounded like the truth.</p><p>"What about Sasuke-kun? Does he know what he wants? Or are you both perfectly happy with one drunken encounter that you'll both pretend never happened?"</p><p>"Um..."</p><p>"One drunken encounter and the one earlier today," he amended, "my mistake."</p><p>Naruto's face heated viciously. He propped himself up and glared into Sai's nonplussed black eyes. "You..." he said angrily, "you don't know anything-"</p><p>Sai slipped his free hand behind the back of Naruto's head and pulled him forward into a collision of lips.</p><p>The suddenness of it sparked a brief falling sensation in Naruto's stomach, and fanned out in tingling waves from behind his navel. He sort of tried to pull back, but Sai was kissing him thoroughly and the most he could do was try to keep up. Long fingers threaded through his hair, distracting him from just about anything else.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TBC</strong>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Arrangement</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</b>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p class="p1"><b>Summary: </b>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 4: The Arrangement</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>At the changing of the guard, Naruto heard a voice outside the tent. Sai had already left, having slipped silently out into the night a few minutes earlier.</p><p>"Naruto, are you awake?" Sasuke whispered. He quietly raised the tent flap and came inside.</p><p>"No," Naruto said and flipped over so that his back was to Sasuke.</p><p>"Why was Sai smiling at me?"</p><p>"He always smiles." Shit, he was probably gloating.</p><p>"Did something happen?"</p><p>"Um, no." There was no <em>way</em> he was admitting to being sort of molested by Sasuke's look-alike. Or that he had sort of let it happen.</p><p>Damnit all.</p><p>His face heated and he frowned mightily. He also ignored his best friend's pointed gaze. It wasn't his <em>fault</em> that when Sai stopped talking, he was kind of really convincing! Especially with how he kissed so much like <em>Sasuke</em> did, it could get a little confusing...</p><p>"Naruto-" the raven-haired boy said warningly, temper starting to flare.</p><p>"<em>Teme</em>," Naruto growled, "I'm trying to sleep."</p><p>He hadn't meant for anything to happen! But it kind of had, and now he felt sort of pissed off about it. Guilty. But also mad at Sasuke, because it was <em>all his fault</em>!</p><p>"What's my fault?" Sasuke said pointedly, sounding confused and annoyed.</p><p>
  <em>Shit shit shit.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I didn't say that aloud! Did I say that aloud?</em>
</p><p>A rough hand on his shoulder rolled him over and he and Sasuke were now eye-to-eye. Desire flared through him, and panic. He wanted his best friend more than ever, and yet if he had even a notion that Sai had jumped him, he'd be out of this tent in seconds flat, set to murder their teammate.</p><p>Sasuke's night vision was good. "Why do you look so twitchy?"</p><p>So, things might have happened with Sai, but he'd kind of been thinking a lot about Sasuke during it, and it had done nothing for his self-control. Hell, Sasuke had been pinning him up against a tree not long before, and his sex drive was already amped up as it was.</p><p>Sasuke pinned Naruto's arms to either side of his head, an intense look on his face. Dark eyes dug into him. "What did you do?"</p><p>"Nothing-"</p><p>"Then what did HE do?"</p><p>
  <em>Shit.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Think, Naruto, think!</em>
</p><p>"Ok, before you get mad-"</p><p>Sasuke's glare loudly announced 'too late' as he growled under his breath.</p><p>In a panic, knowing Sasuke was two seconds from going out into the woods to find Sai and try to murder him, -In which case they'd both be injured, Sai would kill Sasuke, or Sasuke would succeed in killing Sai but then run the risk of going evil again- he started to babble. "Okay, yes, sort of something happened but it wasn't that bad and-"</p><p>Anger flared in dark eyes. Rage.</p><p>Shit, he'd meant not bad as in 'not a lot', versus it being good or not. But his mouth kept moving on this crash course, unchecked, leaving carnage in its wake. "-it probably only happened because of earlier, so that's hardly <em>my</em> fault-"</p><p>Oh no, that came out wrong too.</p><p>"Earlier?" his friend was outraged but also struggling to follow his rambling words. It seemed he gave up on figuring out which thing 'earlier' was referring to, as anger came to the fore. "You let Sai do god knows what to you and you are blaming ME for it?"</p><p>Yeah, it had come out wrong.</p><p>"Well I've liked you for <em>years</em>!" his mouth ran on autopilot, making him cringe as the babbling continued, only he sounded more testy now, "and then stuff happened between us and you seemed like you'd rather <em>deny</em> it happened. But then you keep <em>doing</em> it-!" Who could blame him for falling prey to Sai? At least the boy was clearly into him and didn't make his frigging head hurt, unlike his best friend. The back and forth was killing him.</p><p>"Wait-" Sasuke was torn between anger and confusion once more.</p><p>Naruto's eyes widened as he realized he'd just admitted he'd had a thing for his best friend, 'for YEARS'. The horror of that admission dawned on him, and embarrassment flamed like a torch. In two seconds flat, he'd broken Sasuke's hold and high-tailed it out of the tent, not looking back.</p><p>He'd thought to just relieve Sai and take this shift. But if Sai went back to the tent, Sasuke would likely try to choke him to death. But HE couldn't go back. Even contemplating it made his stomach curdle in anxiety. Sure, stuff had happened between him and his best friend, but that didn't mean Sasuke was going to suddenly fall for him. It didn't mean he'd shift this pattern of denial. And to be honest, he hadn't meant to ever admit to him that he'd ever liked him, so this was a doubly low blow. Sasuke's ego was bad enough on a normal day, let alone lording this over him.</p><p>Worse, was the thought that now Sasuke might put an end to all of this. People could be stupid with denial. He was obviously interested, and obviously jealous…. but that didn't mean he'd own up to it.</p><p>Ok, so maybe he could hide and in the morning pretend like this was all a fever dream. He'd tell Sasuke he was nuts and imagining things. Yeah, that'd work.</p><p>Ugh.</p><hr/><p>After his shift, Sai returned to the tent. The <em>brooder</em> was there. Sai stared at him for a long time, his impassive face showing nothing.</p><p>"What?" Sasuke snapped unpleasantly, seeming annoyed. He always seemed annoyed. Unless he was angry. Or violent. Or traitorous. Yeah, he knew all about that - the time Sasuke had walked out on everyone at Leaf - he'd looked into it.</p><p>"Nothing," he replied impassively, "just trying to figure out what it is that Naruto-kun sees in you."</p><p>Sasuke bristled.</p><p>Hm. That was mildly different than his usual. Was that a small amount of embarrassment he detected beneath the surface hostility?</p><p>Sai leaned in close, peering at him. He didn't bother himself with concepts such as personal space.</p><p>Sasuke's wide eyes were kind of priceless. He rarely seemed to be taken off guard to such an extent. The reaction was interesting. He almost seemed flustered.</p><p>"I suppose you are attractive," he murmured, critically assessing his opponent. He had flawless pale skin, a different shade from his own, and his hair was ink black, not unlike his own preferred weapon. Yes, it was more apparent, the more Sasuke seemed caught off guard. He was spluttering now, face coloring a bit. Uncertainty and confusion swallowed the massive ego he was usually waving around. It was compelling in its own way.</p><p>Sai was nothing if not scientific. He chased down those reactions and amplified them, to satisfy his curiosity.</p><p>It was the kiss that had him utterly fold. It seemed Uchiha had no idea what to do in such situations and he totally floundered.</p><p>Mostly, he'd done it to see if he could understand Naruto's draw to this prickly, moody boy. The reactions, he could see as a bit of a draw, watching him go from haughty to uncertain and almost cute. But actually, now that he was getting more involved, it was almost fun to watch him crumble. The resistance was flagging and he was a fair kisser. He wondered how else the Uchiha might react if he took this further.</p><hr/><p>Naruto gave Sasuke the sideeye. He seemed moodier than usual. They'd all taken notice. He also wouldn't make eye contact with him as they packed up camp.</p><p>Kakashi heaved a sigh, seeming bored and put upon, and largely attempted to ignore them.</p><p>"Is he always such a morning person?" Sai wondered aloud, obnoxiously outting what they were all thinking about, which was Sasuke's sudden black mood.</p><p>"Shut up, you," Sasuke growled out under his breath.</p><p>Sai eyed him blandly. "And after I thought we were on the same page." Somehow the hummed words seemed like a mild threat.</p><p>Naruto thought that was an odd thing to say, but the fact that Sasuke froze and clammed up was even stranger. He was missing the typical fire-in-the-eyes incensed manner which he usually held towards his doppleganger.</p><p>"Uh… did something happen?" Naruto asked before really thinking that through.</p><p>"No." Sasuke growled, glaring at Sai who shrugged noncommittally and said, "Nothing of note, unless you want to join us next time?"</p><p>Time seemed to freeze, crawling slowly forward, inch by excruciating inch.</p><p>"Say what now?" Naruto asked loudly with wide eyes. Was he implying what he <em>thought</em> he was implying? Had he and Sasuke...? He was too shocked to even feel anger, though the pit of his stomach lurched a little. No, that couldn't be it…. it was too bizarre!</p><p>Sai slung an arm around his shoulders. "Why not, now that the ice has been broken?"</p><p>Naruto stumbled, blinking a dozen times in quick succession. "What ice?" he nearly shouted in surprise. He stared at Sasuke.</p><p>Sasuke wasn't even denying anything, and he had a beleaguered expression on his face.</p><p>Naruto ducked out from under Sai's arm and grabbed Sasuke by the neck of his shirt. "Sidebar, NOW."</p><p>Sasuke let himself be dragged to a spot that was just out of earshot. "What happened?" Naruto could feel his eyes were wide with disbelief. How on god's green earth could anything remotely physical aside from <em>beating each other</em> have happened between those two?! Was the world ending? Had someone lost their minds? Was this the apocalypse?!</p><p>Sasuke looked twitchy as hell. "Nothing happened."</p><p>"Like hell." Naruto shook him, ready to beat it out of him. "Fess up!" He could feel a twinge of jealousy but it was totally overpowered by the shock and disbelief, and this deranged urge to laugh.</p><p>A swiftly spiteful look formed upon his friend's face. "Oh, like you explained yourself earlier?"</p><p>"Uh…." well, shit…. he had a point. Naruto's grip on his collar loosened.</p><p>The tables had turned and now Naruto was on the defensive.</p><p>Sasuke dogged him, eyes piercing. His voice was cutting. "Why don't <strong>you</strong> fess up and tell me what happened between <em>you</em> and Sai?"</p><p>"Er…"</p><p>"That's what I thought," Sasuke snipped out, looking pissed and a little unstable to be honest. He turned on his heel and stalked off.</p><p>Naruto called out after him, "Why are you so pissed at me if you did the same damn thing?!"</p><p>The dark-haired ninja actually froze with one of his feet in the air. "I didn't do it on purpose." The muttered response was almost too faint to hear. Almost.</p><p>"And I did?"</p><p>Sasuke turned around. "Didn't you?" He still seemed stand-offish and wary but he was no longer storming off.</p><p>Naruto graced him with an epic frown. "No," he maintained.</p><p>Confusion skated over Sasuke's face. He was so much more attractive and accessible when he didn't look moments away from toasting a person with his version of a flamethrower. He seemed unable to figure out what to say next, like he was sorting through multiple possibilities and being unable to decide.</p><p>Naruto went out on a limb and said, "About earlier… it didn't come out right. It wasn't your fault." He ground his teeth a little, hating to admit that. It certainly felt at least <em>partially</em> his friend's fault, being wishy washy and in denial such as he was.</p><p>"Then why did you <em><strong>say</strong></em> it was?" Sasuke exploded with exasperation, the confusion still markedly present.</p><p>Old habits died hard and Naruto flared right back. "Because at least he's straightforward about being into me. Where as YOU-"</p><p>"I what?" he practically snarled. It seemed the denial was making its unholy appearance.</p><p>"This! You just get like this, and we are back to square one."</p><p>"How can you say you like me then sleep with that imposter?" Sasuke fumed. He was looking pissed again.</p><p>"I didn't sleep with him," he shouted back dismissively, too riled up to be quiet. (Not that it took much to get him at full volume.) "And how can you sleep with <em><strong>me</strong></em>, and other stuff, then act like it never happened? What am I supposed to do with that?"</p><p>Sasuke grumbled something under his breath. An admission.</p><p>It stopped Naruto in his tracks. "Excuse me?" It was so unbelievable that he even lost his loud angry voice for a minute. He blinked. <em>Is he serious? They did what?</em></p><p>Naruto stomped over to his rival/friend, and noted the uncomfortable look morphing onto his face. "You did even more than I did!" Naruto flapped at him, shaking him a few times for good measure.</p><p>Sasuke looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. His face was coloring a bit and as the uncomfortable moment stretched on, he was now getting that bitchy look to him which said he was going to snap back at any minute. "It just sort of happened! How was I supposed to know he could actually be convincing?"</p><p>Naruto wanted to keep fighting but he actually had a point. "Well, that's what happened to me, too," he grudgingly admitted, still feeling angry. Why did Sasuke always have to have <em>such</em> an attitude? It was kind of hot but it was also aggravating as hell.</p><p>Sasuke gave him a sharply assessing look. "Seriously?" he ventured.</p><p>Naruto frowned, crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.</p><p>The gears were working in that head of his, visible in his night black eyes. "So, he got to both of us?"</p><p>"Apparently."</p><p>Sasuke acted like he was assembling an intricate puzzle. "But you actually like me?" he said slowly.</p><p>Naruto gave him a sour expression. "For some godforsaken reason. And stop bringing that up already." He felt weird enough that he'd blurted it out the first time. "It's not my fault." He couldn't help liking the bastard, he'd tried not to. But it was really hard to deal with getting close to what he wanted and then having the fear that his friend's epic denial was going to mess everything up, including their friendship.</p><p>"Huh," Sasuke said, seeming lost in thought. It was nerve-wracking, this lackluster response.</p><p>Naruto was about to slap him out of it, being totally on edge over all of this and the waiting, but he didn't get a chance.</p><p>"Well, that's rude, Sasuke-kun," a new voice said, and Sai phased into view. "Here Naruto has just professed his feelings for you, and you just leave him hanging? No wonder he lost hope on you."</p><p>"Hey-!" Naruto shouted, turning beet red, as if he could force those words back or shut the other boy up. It was futile, he knew.</p><p>Ironically, Sasuke also flushed, though he looked totally pissed once more. He was glaring daggers at Sai.</p><p>"Looks like I'm the better choice afterall," he tossed out lightly, giving Naruto a special look.</p><p>Sasuke took a menacing few steps towards his doppleganger, intent to do damage but was quickly immobilized by one of Sai's ink beasts. Damnit. He growled and fought off the hold, but it wasn't having much effect.</p><p>Sai gave him a pale smile. It was more than a little patronizing. But there was an indulgent cast to it that made Sasuke more than a little uncomfortable. He suddenly felt like he'd unwittingly learned a little more than he'd bargained for regarding the pale bastard's kinks. The ink beast pulsed and slid around him as it constricted him. It definitely seemed that his look-alike had a fondness for bondage. "Or, we could all share," the blunt imposter continued as he put his arm around Naruto's shoulders once more.</p><p>"Um…." Naruto said dumbly, looking anxious but also unable to look away from his rival in bondage. It was more than a little appealing.</p><p>"NO, Uzumaki," Sasuke warned. Sai's amused smile only amplified his feeling of foreboding. The thought of doing anything with Sai, or having Naruto doing anything with Sai was bad enough, a threesome sounded like hell.</p><p>"You can tell he's protesting because he's interested," Sai said flippantly, somehow seeing through him. "So, Naruto, what do you say?"</p><p>"UM…" Naruto said again, this time looking really torn.</p><p>"Without me in the picture, you never would have banged at all. Who's to say you'll get any farther on your own if I leave you two to your inept fumblings?"</p><p>"Hey!" both Naruto and Sasuke said in unison, both offended.</p><p>Sai shrugged, not looking perturbed or repentant in the least. "You," he said to Sasuke, "are so full of denial it's pathetic."</p><p>Sasuke was in open-mouthed outrage to hear such a thing, not to mention Naruto nodding and saying to himself, "Yeah that's kinda true."</p><p>"And you," Sai continued, showing that Naruto wasn't safe from his assessments either, "run away from your feelings and are hardly the type to show initiative, there."</p><p>Now Sasuke was nodding thoughtfully, to Naruto's outrage. "He did say he'd liked me for years."</p><p>"Traitor!" Naruto all but shouted, embarrassment flaming up his neck once more.</p><p>"Now then," Sai continued with a close-eyed smile, and squeezed Naruto to him in a one armed hug. "I think I can be the solution to both of your problems."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Some time later…</em>
</p><p>"Sasuke," Naruto hissed at his companion, having dragged him behind some bushes sometime later. They were finally out from under the watchful eyes of both Sai and Kakashi. "Are you really ok with this?" He gave his rival/friend his biggest baby blues.</p><p>Sai had already implemented said plan, but it couldn't go on like this, could it? It was kind of hot but also really disturbing.</p><p>Sasuke looked aggrieved, a pained expression crossing his stoically handsome face. "No, but as we said, he can be really convincing."</p><p>"Ok, look, we can figure this out," Naruto said in an amped up voice, still feeling a bit rattled. Damn Sai, calling him out on his problem facing his emotions. He wanted Sasuke for himself, and he kept being too chickenshit about rejection to make a proper move. "He said you are in denial, which you <em>have</em> been."</p><p>"Hey-!" Sasuke hissed, looking supremely uppity over that.</p><p>"Do you like me?" Naruto pressed him, feeling really unconfident beneath his curt question. "Yes or no?"</p><p>"Would I do stuff with you like that, if I didn't?"</p><p>"Well, you did do it with Sai and you profess to hate him."</p><p>"Ugh." Sasuke made a sour face. "Fair point…."</p><p>"So, do you?"</p><p>"What about what he said to you?" Sasuke tossed out, not enduring the hot seat very well, "Running away from your feelings and hiding some massive crush on me?" It came out more than mildly sarcastic and accusatory.</p><p>Naruto criiiiiinged on the inside. "Well at least I had the balls to admit it!" he hissed, trying for once to keep his voice down.</p><p>"Ha! You only said it by accident!"</p><p>They were staring each other down, glaring.</p><p>In a few minutes, something like this felt like it might turn into a kiss, like those other times. The air was intense. It was like an invisible thread was pulling them together….</p><p>"Oh, just shag each other already," Sai had suddenly morphed into the space next to them. He was crouching to be at their eye level and had a droll look on his face.</p><p>The two of them jumped a mile high then scattered from the premises.</p><p>"Kids." Sai shook his head.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Several days later…</em>
</p><p>"Naruto, this is ridiculous." It was Sasuke's turn to attempt reason. They'd had multiple tries so far. But, no success.</p><p>"I know," Naruto huffed, crossing his arms over his chest with a sullen ass pout.</p><p>They'd gotten a moment alone while Sasuke was fishing for dinner. Sai had been sent to forage up berries and other edibles in the area. Kakashi was in camp, as usual, ignoring them all.</p><p>Sasuke frowned as his temper flared, feeling like the blond was blaming <em>him</em> for this situation. "Can't you just admit this is all your fault?"</p><p>"MY fault? You're the one who let him get to third base in the blink of an eye. AND this was while saying he was your mortal enemy!" He was getting really good at restraining anger to a really harsh whisper. They'd been having a lot of practice. These conversations hadn't been doing much good, though, and they were usually discovered before actually getting anywhere with them. But they couldn't continue like this, being Sai's bitches. The threesome thing was wildly challenging and unsettling, even if they did keep falling prey to it. <em>We're weak.</em></p><p>Naruto told himself it was probably happening due to the sexual tension he and Sasuke naturally carried like breathing. Sai was merely stirring up what was already there, and using it for his own twisted purposes.</p><p>"You're the one who let him kiss you, in the first place," Sasuke snarled back, looking jealous as hell. "Not to mention watching porn with him! Who does that?"</p><p>Naruto flushed hard. "And who forgets their first time with someone?" he hissed back, trying not to think of how hot it had been as a jealous Sasuke had kissed him into oblivion just outside Sai's door.</p><p>"I was really drunk!"</p><p>"Obviously!"</p><p>Uh oh, he couldn't stop thinking about lips and hands and unrestrained passion. His mind was happily supplying a stream of sensations and images. He couldn't exactly remember their first time together either, but he remembered enough of the other things and regretted nothing. He just couldn't be sure Sasuke felt the same. Just because he kept doing it, didn't mean he didn't regret it…</p><p>They were only about a foot apart now, closer than they had been in the last moment Naruto had been paying attention. His eyes dropped to Sasuke's sarcastic, sensual lips. They beckoned him… It was hard to fight the pull…</p><p>Even so, he practically had PTSD. Getting close to Sasuke usually meant that Sai would show up in short order and drag them further down this road of depravity. They needed to <em>talk</em> to each other and sort this out. It was the only way…</p><p>Silken lips met his and Naruto felt desire flare. Couldn't the bastard see he was really into him? He already had a confession for goddsakes, what more would it take?</p><p>Was Sai right, that HE was the only way they'd keep something like this going? Was he really the glue between them and this uncharted territory of lust and passion? It was an incredibly disturbing thought, and it made him want to run away.</p><p>Like clockwork, they were interrupted. The kiss was broken. Sai looped an arm around each of them, putting the three of their faces very close. "Looks like we're up for another round," he said lightly, with an undercurrent of the ominous.</p><hr/><p>It was after the mission and things had been going on in this manner for some time...</p><p>Sasuke was moping about the state of his twisted love life, and that he was more than well acquainted with the body of his enemy AND his lifelong rival. How had this happened?</p><p>Naruto was doing his version of brooding which looked more like a sullen pout. Sai wasn't his <em>favorite</em> person, though he liked him well enough. But he'd never once intended to get to know him THIS well. What the hell?</p><p>Sai nonchalantly worked on a drawing, while the other two parts of his love triangle sat opposite him at the campfire. Kakashi was ignoring them all, his nose deep in an illicit book.</p><p>"Do you take commissions?" Kakashi asked him offhandedly, uncharacteristically making conversation.</p><p>"Of what?" Sai asked blandly, not interested or uninterested. He actually was distracted by the angst and sexual tension his unwitting companions were throwing off in waves. Watching them struggle was a fun experiment. Naruto was adorable, wearing that pout which he knew could be startled right off of his face with calculated lewd remarks or touch. And the stormcloud was not too dissimilar. He fought it harder, but it was all the more interesting when he finally gave in.</p><p>He'd originally only been interested in the blond, but his surly look-alike was almost as much fun to play with. Their shitty attempts to talk to each other and work a way out of this arrangement was laughable. Entertainment to the highest degree. He'd even pointed out their flaws, and still they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag.</p><p>"This," Kakashi said, showing him the pages of his book.</p><p>Interesting, he was usually so private about that. Sai's dark eyes skimmed the page which housed some of the most explicit writing he'd ever seen. Not that he was much of a reader. He preferred images. "What's it worth to you?"</p><p>Kakashi shrugged and went back to reading. "How about more time out here with these knuckleheads?"</p><p>"Done."</p><p>"Sasuke, for the last time, this is not my fault!" Naruto said, incredibly annoyed. The trip back was taking infinitely longer than the original journey to fulfill their mission. It was making him testy. Once more, they'd stolen off to have a well-worn argument about their circumstances. He'd pulled his rival aside to have another go at sorting this all out.</p><p>"Well it's not <em>my</em> fault!" Sasuke snapped back.</p><p>"Then whose fault is it?"</p><p>"Mine?" Sai added helpfully, making them both jump a mile as he appeared out of nowhere.</p><p>Twin looks of horror met his plastic smile, and they both looked guilty as hell. It was highly amusing.</p><p>As usual, he ended up dragging them into a rather sordid series of actions which neither protested much at all. It almost seemed for show at this point. More amusing still.</p><p>Kakashi was letting this go on unencumbered due to the steady stream of raunchy pictures Sai was supplying him with, and because apparently the situation was mildly amusing to him. He was a bit twisted, afterall.</p><p>On more than one occasion, he'd also helpfully pointed Sai in the direction the pair had secreted off to, without ever looking up from his book. Not that he often needed it; they were terrible at keeping their voices down when they argued.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TBC</strong>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Teamwork</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</b>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p class="p1"><b>Summary: </b>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 5: Teamwork</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>"You know, I've been thinking," Naruto said under his breath, giving Sasuke the sideeye while he worked at preparing the evening meal.</p><p>"Don't hurt yourself, Dobe."</p><p>Naruto kicked him, but wouldn't be deterred. "Kakashi <em>has</em> to know this is going on, right? I mean, he looks like he's never paying attention, but we know from our training with him in the early days that looks can be deceiving."</p><p>Sasuke nodded solemnly. "During the bell exercise, that's when I realized."</p><p>"Me, too. So how is it he <em>wouldn't</em> be aware of what's going on here?"</p><p>"Maybe he just doesn't care."</p><p>Naruto nodded with a contemplative frown. He added, "Or how about the fact that we are going in circles out here?" It was definitely taking longer to get back from the mission than it should have. Some of their surroundings even looked familiar.</p><p>Sasuke paused. He'd thought he was imagining it, but if even the <em>Dobe</em> had noticed….</p><p>Naruto kicked him again for good measure.</p><p>"Ow! Quit it."</p><p>"Quit being a bastard, then. I could tell what you were thinking about me."</p><p>"Okay fine. Now what's your point?"</p><p>"They must have some kind of agreement."</p><p>Sasuke paused again, thinking about that. It would make sense, but what could possibly be of interest to their squad leader that Sai could provide? "Dirty pictures?" he asked Naruto.</p><p>"Maybe." Naruto's reaction said he hadn't come up with that conclusion himself, and was just acting like he'd already considered it. <em>Dobe</em>.</p><p>"Or," he speculated, "what if this is his sick idea of a teamwork exercise?"</p><p>The blond gave him a WTF look.</p><p>Sasuke quickly jumped to explain. "Not the threesome thing," he waved his hand dismissively. "You and me. Sai roped us into this situation, and we have consistently failed at working together to get out of it."</p><p>Naruto frowned. "True… but not for lack of trying."</p><p>"What good is trying when it's not effective?"</p><p>"How is dinner coming along?" the silver haired jounin called out lazily. For once, his eye was actually on them.</p><p>"Soon," Sasuke called back, trying not to sound as surly as he felt. Damn elders and their games. It made him want to murder them all. But he'd promised himself he wouldn't go evil. For Naruto's sake, at least.</p><p>He froze, something about that hammering in his thoughts.</p><p>
  <em>For Naruto's sake…</em>
</p><p>That almost sounded like he was in <em>love</em> with his friend/rival. <em>Preposterous</em>. He just felt remorse over hurting his one true friend back then, when he was really making poor decisions and tossing everything aside for revenge.</p><p>
  <em>One true friend…</em>
</p><p><em>My god, there it is again! </em>It's like he couldn't stop himself from this internal monologue that sounded very much like his world revolved around Na-</p><p>"Sasuke? You ok? You look ill." Incredibly blue eyes were peering at him and he felt exposed, suddenly, like he was naked and ill-equipped.</p><p>"Fine," he said dismissively, coming off rather gruff as he tried to ward off the scrutiny. "I'll be right back."</p><p>He got the hell out of there, away from the object of his thoughts so he could THINK.</p><p><em>Am I in love with Naruto? That </em>Dobe<em>?</em></p><p>Boy, how the world could suddenly spin when personal revelations tried to hit.</p><p>Some small part of him sarcastically pointed out that it could be the reason he'd always been so passive aggressive and insulting towards the other boy, and calling him stupid. He'd been in denial.</p><p>SHIT.</p><p>Did that mean Sai was right? Like, <em>really</em> right? He'd thought his doppleganger was merely talking about the way he'd denied stuff just enough to not think about what a relationship might look like. Not because he was totally against it, but because it was unfamiliar territory and he didn't know what to DO.</p><p>Sasuke groaned into his hands. Could this day get ANY better?</p><hr/><p>Naruto sighed heavily, and gloomily went about finishing off the dinner he was cooking. Maybe Sai was right, Sasuke was a lost cause. As soon as they got back, things would probably change again. He doubted Sai would be in a position to jump in and coerce them, in random heart-stopping moments, and Sasuke just might drift away from him after all this.</p><p>Would it have killed him to say, even once, 'I like you, too?'</p><p>Naruto glowered at the dirt and scratched a deeper hole in it than before. <em>Stupid freaking egomaniac,</em> he grumbled in his head. You'd think that having sex with someone repeatedly, even with another person joining in, would clear up <em>some</em> of the confusion on who liked who…. But Sasuke clung to his refusal to admit anything. It was vexing, and he was about at his limit for this rejection by omission.</p><p>He sighed again.</p><p>He'd already thought about all of this before, and yet he couldn't seem to stop.</p><p>The threesomes kept happening, and just as frequently, were the rushed and fervent arguments with Sasuke about how to find a way out of them. It was mental.</p><p>Naruto frowned and wondered once more if returning to the village would mark the end of everything. The thing with Sai, the intimacy with Sasuke, or even his friendship with the Uchiha heir.</p><hr/><p>Sasuke avoided Naruto for a while, after his earth shaking personal revelation, as he was unsure of EVERYTHING now. Sure, he'd realized that he harbored an attraction for him… which he was slow to admit to, despite recent events… but THIS?</p><p>It was just downright embarrassing.</p><p>To the point where he almost felt it was appropriate, the way Sai had laughed and mocked him all this time.</p><p>Since he was avoiding Naruto, that kept the illicit activities to a minimum. For a while. But Sai did not seem interested in a sexual drought, and so it wasn't long before he took the initiative.</p><p>Sasuke was alone in the tent, trying to get some shuteye. Naruto was out on watch. He was actually sick of the tents, being that it was the backdrop to, in his opinion, some of his most questionable actions to date. But he just really couldn't stand snakes.</p><p>Sai entered the tent some time later, not waking him up, as he'd never fully drifted off. He hadn't been sleeping well. "Sasuke-kun?" that droll voice prodded him. It irked him but also set off a flutter of nerves. He sensed something was up. Something was different.</p><p>"I'm sleeping," he mumbled.</p><p>"No, you're a liar," his look-alike corrected him. There was a slight tone of disdain in his voice.</p><p>Sasuke didn't dignify that with an answer.</p><p>"Why are you avoiding Naruto?" Sai inquired. His voice was largely inflectionless, as usual, but something about it seemed to be prodding sharply for an answer.</p><p>"None of your damn business," he grumbled, feeling more than a little touchy on the subject.</p><p>"It is when it affects our arrangement."</p><p>Sasuke sat up, taken aback by the statement although in all honesty it wasn't that surprising. "Technically none of us made an arrangement."</p><p>"And yet, we have an arrangement."</p><p>Sasuke frowned, sulkily, feeling off of his game. The other boy wasn't <em>wrong…</em> but that didn't make it right.</p><p>Sai fixed him with that straightforward gaze and unabashed manner which had made him do any number of questionable things. He started to flush, thinking about any of them, and namely, Naruto. Honestly, some of the things Sai's creativity had them participate in would have never even crossed his mind. But when it came to Naruto, he couldn't stop. And it didn't seem to matter that they had a third person with them. If anything, Sai had encouraged things between them as much as he had wrangled them into things with himself.</p><p>He couldn't exactly regret any of that, but the whole arrangement made him feel petulant and at odds with himself. He wasn't in control. He <em>liked</em> being in control.</p><p>Lips brushed his, tugging at his stoic refusal to do this again. Sai could be quite convincing.</p><p>"Perhaps we should pick up where we left off," Sai said in his ear, bringing to mind that one time they had done things solo. He felt a pang in his heart, thinking of Naruto and missing him in his usual place in this triad, but even so he also felt a flare of heat in his groin. He'd held out for a few days, but his mind was going nuts with the lack of touch. It had been a daily occurance up till now, sometimes even more than that.</p><p>"How long can you even hold out, Uchiha?" Sai mocked him softly, lips grazing over his earlobe and along his strong jawline.</p><p>His body throbbed.</p><p>He'd gotten attuned to this madness after so many times, and the inevitability of it all. He cursed Naruto, as it was half <em>all his fault</em>. He never would have gone along with this as much as he had, if not for him. He just couldn't stop, not when he saw eyelids flutter over those bright blue eyes as Sai teased him, or later when Sai offered him up on a silver platter, letting him taste and touch, instead of just watch. It was all so insidious. Watching Naruto was almost as fascinating as being with Naruto. Twisted as it was, he wanted both, and couldn't quite help himself.</p><p>During his distraction, Sai had already taken control of their interaction, driving his desire to new heights. The asshole probably knew exactly what and who he'd been thinking about, but he didn't seem to mind and just took advantage of it. A hot mouth tormented his neck and he shuddered as his hardening flesh was expertly worked with a brazen hand.</p><p>"It's stupid that you're avoiding him," Sai said against his lips, teasing them again as his breath came in harsh pants.</p><p>"Shut up."</p><p>He knew it was stupid, he didn't need that pointed out to him. But he just didn't know what to DO with himself. Not that this was a really great option…</p><p>The tent was just large enough to sandwich in three people. But generally only two of them were ever in here at a time to use it; Kakashi had them on a strict guard rotation. So, it was surprising as hell when a blond head poked in and said, "Guys, Kakashi said he's going to keep watch-" his voice trailed off and his eyes went wide as he noticed what they were in the middle of. He blinked rapidly and backpedaled. "I… uh… sorry for um…"</p><p>Sai was cool as a cucumber. It seemed nothing ever ruffled his calm composure. Hell, he rarely even changed expressions, ever. He waved Naruto in.</p><p>The blond looked like he wanted to be nearly anywhere else, and entered with what seemed like extreme reluctance.</p><p>Yeah, Sai had that effect on them. Somehow pulling their strings. It was like this all the time. Bland face, insistent manner. Somehow it seemed impossible to refuse.</p><p>Sasuke would have felt utterly compromised to be caught like this, but he was too worked up. Instead, he obsessively noted that while Naruto wouldn't meet his eyes, he couldn't seem to help his gaze roving over his bare skin and his state of disarray. Sasuke felt ravenous, and it only amplified the moment the object of his suppressed affections entered the vicinity.</p><p>Sai pulled the sullen blond into an insidious kiss. It was the same kind that often got him. It began slow, imploring, hardly a brushing of lips against lips, merely suggesting what was on offer. It was so damn effective because it corroded resistance through not being forceful at all. Hormones and instinct would kick in and the next thing you knew, you were forcing rough kisses all on your own and falling swiftly down a rabbit hole.</p><p>Sasuke watched the show, unable to feel jealous when he knew this was the only way in which he'd get to observe every single reaction and twitch the blond made. He obsessively catalogued everything, down to the sulky pout the blond was wearing even as his resistance began to crumble.</p><p>He felt his heart start racing with even that first small moan. His body throbbed. It was like Pavlov's theory. He'd been conditioned to take this as the precursor to having Naruto himself, of joining in and recklessly indulging his wanton urges. Sai wasn't even in the way, really. By that point everyone was touching everywhere, lines seemed to blur, and it was only afterwards that he wondered why the fuck this kept happening. In the moment, though…. he only ever had lust on his mind.</p><p>It was kind of a problem.</p><p>Ok, so he might sort of maybe be in love with Naruto. But Sai, he didn't even <em>like</em> Sai. He was still a pompous ass, blunter than a dull spoon, and with a lewdness that surely rivaled their pervy squad leader Kakashi. But in the moments during all of this? None of that seemed to matter and he just gave into it.</p><p>Yeah, it was a massive problem.</p><p>Which is why he and Naruto apparently felt the need to keep battering at it in their hushed sidebars, but they'd never really gotten anywhere.</p><p>Sai also had an uncanny and freakish ability to ferret them out, and so no sexual tension was left unturned. Next thing they knew, they'd be in the midst of <em>this</em> again, this messed up, blissed out hell.</p><p>They'd had zero happenings with just the two of them, not since that night at Naruto's where they'd apparently done the deed. He wasn't the only one that couldn't remember much, of that he was sure. Naruto was just as guilty.</p><p>He'd already made a mental note, that if something like that happened again, he'd abstain from the alcohol so he could remember the details. Had things really happened if neither party could remember? If a tree falls in a forest, and noone was around to hear it, did it make a sound?</p><p>Sai beckoned him, and it was like the snapping of restraints that had been holding him back. His mouth surged upon Naruto's and he welcomed the feeling of drowning in sensation. Naruto moaned helplessly, and he couldn't get enough. His hands roved everywhere and he could feel the heat blazing upon the blond's flushing face.</p><p>His look-alike joined in but was never in the way. It was seamless. If he left Naruto's mouth to breathe in his scent and mark his neck, Sai would often drift in and claim it for himself. He assisted in working Naruto up to a mindless mess of wanting, but he'd often turn the tables and then it would be Sasuke who was reduced to ashes. And inbetween all of that, his look-alike was getting his own fair share of their busy hands and mouths.</p><p>It logically didn't make a lot of sense, but in the moment it just kind of worked. He guessed when you were that turned on, there was never enough flesh to hold onto, mouths to violate, or moans to grace your ears. With two partners, there was always an abundance of sensation, it seemed.</p><p>Somehow, Sai never seemed to be competing with either of them for the other one. It felt…. weirdly balanced.</p><p>Still…. he had regrets.</p><p>He wondered distractedly what was going to happen with all of this once they arrived back in Konoha. Surely he and Naruto would at that point be able to get through a talk and work out what was going on with them. Right? Without Sai's interference, they'd be able to work through their hangups, wouldn't they?</p><p>He prayed to god that was how it played out, but part of him felt despairingly that his doppleganger might be right about this as well, that they were doomed when left to their own devices.</p><p>'I'm the glue that holds you together,' he'd said infuriatingly, one time, in a mockingly lighthearted tone. Both he and Naruto had acted in unison, spouting denial and even throwing stuff at him. He'd laughed in that closed-eyed manner which hid his gaze and true intent.</p><p>It STILL bugged him, remembering that.</p><p>What a pompous ass he was. It was even worse if he was somehow <em>right</em>. He couldn't be right. Sasuke willfully jumped straight into denial with both feet on that one. He refused to let it be true. He and Naruto could work this out, surely. They didn't need this skeevy meddler to 'help' them.</p><hr/><p>"Ah, home sweet home," Kakashi said, sounding bored as usual.</p><p>Naruto scoffed openly. "Sensei, we're at least a day out!"</p><p>Kakashi shrugged, seeming mildly annoyed at his outburst. "I was overwhelmed by the familiar landscape," he tossed out a shoddy excuse which only peeved Naruto even more.</p><p>Sasuke was brooding. He couldn't help but notice that it was only after he and Naruto were on open speaking terms that they were suddenly making progress back to Konoha. He eyed the tall jounin and suspected heavily that something was up with that.</p><p>It was more than that. He could have <strong>sworn</strong> he'd heard the man utter 'about damn time' under his breath when Sasuke had let slip to Naruto during dinner clean up one night that he did, maybe, in fact sort of kind of like him.</p><p>Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the three-way tryst was still occuring and it was like none of them quite knew how to stop. Well, Sai probably did and just didn't feel like it. Sasuke muttered under his breath, a stormcloud over his head as he considered the state of things, the future, and his kind of awkward feelings for Naruto.</p><p>He was so used to the insults and banter, they came as easy as breathing. But now he wasn't sure if he should <em>stop</em>, on account of his feelings. But then how the hell was he supposed to act? They'd been like this with each other since they were kids! Did Naruto expect him to stop? Did he expect everything to change? Or maybe he didn't… who was to say? But it wasn't something he could just come out and <em><strong>ask</strong></em> him. Right? If Naruto did expect him to suddenly act really nice, even though it went against his character, wouldn't the blond just get pissed off that he'd even had to ask?</p><hr/><p>Kakashi watched the two of them, as they all walked, and heaved a sigh. He'd done what he could, mostly out of annoyance after watching them dance around each other for the last many years, but he was done with traipsing about the woods. He would really miss Sai's illustrations though. That had sort of been worth the hassle.</p><p>Tsunade was going to be pissed that they'd taken so long to return. He'd have to make up a half-assed excuse to offer up to her when she demanded the report. He shrugged to himself. It didn't have to be believable. The more outlandish the better, actually. It made people expect less of you, in their exasperation. It worked brilliantly on his students, and team 7 especially.</p><p>He smiled behind his mask. They were so fun to torment back then, as indignant little kids. Though, still pretty fun to torment now. And he didn't even have to do anything to bring it about, Sai was taking care of that all on his own. He'd just kicked back and enjoyed the show. Served them right for being so freaking dense about their feelings for each other. He'd had to suffer in silence for years watching that drama. Payback was a bitch.</p><hr/><p>Sai passively watched the three of his squad members, as he brought up the flank. He passingly noted the bright cloudless sky overhead and the glaring sun, colors that were reminiscent of Naruto's bright hair and eyes. Sasuke emitted his own stormcloud as he brooded over something. And their squad leader strolled with hands in his pockets, for once not reading his books, which Sai now had a mind to look up once they returned. After reading part of them to do the illustrations, he kind of saw the appeal. Birds chirped, and the wind coasted a pleasant breeze though the tall grass in the open fields next to them. Another copse of trees and forest lay ahead, and a few miles beyond that - Konoha.</p><p>He felt impassive on the whole, not being one for homesickness. Konoha had never really felt like home anyway, it was more of a notion, a thing to protect. Root had instilled that in him for years, and it had never really faded. In some ways, he hadn't really changed much from back then; his emotions were distant, as always.</p><p>This mission had been a pleasant diversion, he thought idly.</p><hr/><p>Back in Konoha, they all went their separate ways, to crash, catch up on some well deserved sleep, shower properly, and binge eat actual real food. Rations were hardly satisfying, and the food they could catch or gather was sometimes scarce.</p><p>Naruto prioritized sleep and fell on his bed fully clothed, dirty, and uncaring about that fact. He was soon out like a light.</p><p>Sasuke, tired as he was, prioritized getting a proper shower. It irked him so badly the lack of proper facilities on mission travel. It was ignorable when they were working or preparing on the way to a mission. But afterwards? Ugh. It was an incessant bother. There was only so much you could do with stream water and limited time at your disposal.</p><p>Kakashi dragged his feet on seeing Tsunade, procrastinating as usual. She really flipped her lid when scouts reported their arrival and he didn't bother to show for hours afterward. She sent a messenger to go find him and bring him in.</p><p>Iruka had practically dragged him in by the ear, under much protest. But he couldn't really say no. He was partial to that hilariously stern look the brunet would get when exasperated with him.</p><p>"Where have you been, you irresponsible lech?" Tsunade tiraded the moment he was dragged across the threshold, slamming her hands upon her desk.</p><p>Well well, someone certainly was all fired up.</p><p>He neglected to say that out loud, mostly because it would be taken as insubordination. Even though he actually just thought the outburst was kind of cute. She tiraded like a cheek-puffing 2yr old. Well, except for the impressive cleavage, that is. Another thing he wasn't going to say out loud. So, he simply smiled behind his mask and offered up a terribly pathetic excuse that neither of his companions allowed him to actually finish. Haha. Some days he swore things like that were his only sense of amusement.</p><p>Iruka, despite being rather proper and formal, couldn't help unleashing an eyeroll in response. Tsunade ignored that, likely feeling the same way, but her eye was twitching with annoyance as she looked at Kakashi. "Report," she said through gritted teeth.</p><p>His smile didn't fade in the least. "Target eliminated," he said innocently, as if he wasn't stirring up trouble in the least.</p><p>"And why did it take you so long to return?" she demanded.</p><p>"Necessary teamwork exercises," he said formally. Inwardly, he was laughing. He'd been laughing for days, watching over his squad. Though, it was kind of the truth. It <em>was</em> about teamwork, and had felt necessary. So what if the extra time gave Sai a longer leash with his perverted nature? That was hardly a crime. He felt for the kid. Besides, he was an excellent illustrator, and that was more than worth the delay.</p><p>Tsunade scoffed at him, not believing his very truthful words for even a second. He hadn't thought she would. "Alright get out of here," she dismissed with a hand to her head while the other made a shooing motion.</p><p>"Well, that went well," Kakashi said pleasantly as they walked down the hall.</p><p>"I'm amazed you still have a job."</p><p>"That's what happens when you are in the top tier elite. Supposed flaws get overlooked." He rolled a bland eye over to regard his companion. "But even chuunins shouldn't have to grovel as much as you do."</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>"My bad, my bad," Kakashi held up his hands as if making peace. Inwardly he was amused at the indignant reaction. "I meant to say you could probably relax a little."</p><p>Iruka glared at him, not sure if he should believe him or not. It was nearly a sullen pout and it was adorable. Could he help it if teasing him got this kind of reaction? He could hardly resist.</p><p>"Well just say that next time," he huffed, a slight stormcloud forming over his head.</p><p>"My bad," he said again, not sounding all that sincere, especially with his continuing smile. This prompted another rolling of the eyes. What a treat. "Iruka-sensei, what would you say to dinner at the hot pot place?"</p><p>Iruka blinked at him, taken aback.</p><p>Kakashi maintained his innocent look, continuing with his close-eyed smile.</p><p>"Do you even have a face under there?" Iruka groused, seeming like he was wavering on a yes.</p><p>Kakashi hooked a finger in his mask and pulled it down to reveal his face. It was a good one, he'd admit, though he didn't often show it. He felt his smile tilt up at the corner in a mildly solicitous smirk and threw him a wink.</p><p>Iruka looked stunned and a bit flustered. "I - uh - well…"</p><p>"I'll meet you at 7," Kakashi said with another wink, suavely pulling his mask back up as Iruka's gaze remained riveted to his. He left the speechless chuunin behind and strolled out of the building with a jaunty whistle.</p><p>Now for a shower, to prepare for his date.</p><hr/><p>Normally, they got a few days off after missions, to recuperate and such. This time was no different. Naruto lazed about the house but quickly got bored. He wondered what Sasuke was up to, and had even tried calling, but his friend/rival wasn't answering.</p><p>"Uuuugh," he expelled a breath, hanging his head over the edge of his bed, while spread out like a starfish.</p><p>He hoped Sasuke was just being antisocial, like he tended to be after all the constant interaction with other people on a mission, but he sort of worried that it was more about the stuff that had happened between them.</p><p>He flopped around the bed a bit more, rolling around in aggravation and boredom, before finally calling it quits. He had nothing better to do, he might as well train.</p><p>Naruto shoved his feet into his sandals and slouched down the street. He felt lazy, and annoyed, but there wasn't much else he felt like doing. He didn't exactly feel like talking to anyone else either. He was just… restless.</p><p><em>Bastard</em>, he thought at his best friend while he sulked. Typically he spent a lot of time with the other boy, and he was missing that right now. Had getting closer really ruined everything? He hoped not. This was reminding him an awful lot right now of the time Sasuke had buggered off and abandoned everything for his crazy revenge fantasy. And look how well <em>that</em> had worked out.</p><p>He heaved a sigh and continued his shuffle towards the training area.</p><p>To his surprise, Sasuke was there, working on striking attacks and launching all out war against a grouping of wood training posts. He was hitting strategic marks with hands, feet, and chakra, a whirlwind of motion. It looked like a killer workout. Naruto wasn't sure if watching it was exhausting or inspiring, but he was riveted to the spot. He ignored the several gawking onlookers who had gathered to watch.</p><p>After a while, he itched to join in. He wasn't content to gawk on the sidelines, as if he was nothing more than an Uchiha groupie. He was better than that. He <em>knew</em> Sasuke, unlike a lot of his fans. They probably wouldn't be so enamored if they had suffered his temper as much as Naruto had, but oh well. Naruto ducked under the fence and approached him. He almost called out to him, asking to spar, but instead decided to launch a straight out attack.</p><p><em>Let's see how much he's paying attention to his surroundings!</em> Naruto thought with a grin and a surge of adrenaline.</p><p>He nearly got torched with a fireball as Sasuke jumped to attack, but it was almost worth the surprised look on his face. He wasn't nearly so thrilled about the scorched and ruined arm of his jacket, but he had others. Still, it <em>had</em> been priceless. His eyes had been red, sporting the Sharingans, but his reflexes had been faster than thought and you could practically see the 'Oh shit OOPS!' flash over his face as he was mid attack.</p><p>Naruto did not appreciate the flying kick that had landed him in the dirt moments later, but it <em>had</em> saved his hair from being ignited into oblivion.</p><p>"Ow," he said, picking himself up and rounding on his rival for another attack.</p><p>"Naruto, what are you doing? Why are you here?"</p><p>"What," he scoffed, "are you the only one who's allowed to train obsessively?" He got a bit testy. He just wanted to spar and feel engaged. <em>What's with all the talking?</em> He scowled as he suspected Sasuke's superiority complex was poking out. "Last I checked, you aren't the only one who's elite around here."</p><p>Sasuke gave him a droll look. "And <em>you</em> are?"</p><p>Oh, now he was just instigating.</p><p>Naruto launched himself at his friend for another attack, determined to wipe that smug face in the dirt. Nevermind that he wasn't actually looking smug at the moment. Sasuke was intrinsically smug. It was like… encoded in his DNA.</p><p>He got in more than a few good shots, but Sasuke got in more. Instead of feeling engaged he felt angry. He wanted to have the upper hand, for ONCE. Sparring was its own source of frustration, and usually a better training ground for his explosive impatience, than actual combat, but he knew his other worries were intruding in upon this.</p><p>"You're slow. And sloppy."</p><p>"Shut up," Naruto hollered back, not appreciating the calm yet biting assessment.</p><p>Sasuke let out a noise of exasperation as he fended off another flurry of attacks and didn't manage to evade them all. "If you're tired, go home and rest."</p><p>"Right back at you!"</p><p>There was no way he was quitting now. He was finally making progress.</p><p>Sasuke tried to talk him out of it a few more times, but Naruto was determined to wear him down to the bone.</p><p>Hours later, they were both panting, and Naruto was swaying on his feet. Ok, yeah, he was tired. But so was his opponent. Sasuke was covered in a fine sheen of sweat and was aiming a particularly disgruntled look at him. To others it might have looked like a death glare, but Naruto had seen those and they looked a lot worse. He could tell Sasuke was barely keeping his feet, just like he was. One light kick to the back of a knee and he would drop like a stone.</p><p>Naruto raised his hands to make a seal.</p><p>Sasuke's eye twitched as he recognized which one. "Don't you dare-"</p><p>"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he hollered, wobbling with the effort as clones exploded into life around him.</p><p>Instead of looking properly worried and put in his place, Sasuke fell to the ground laughing.</p><p>"What?!" Naruto hollered at him, feeling vengeful, though absolutely exhausted. That had taken the last of his strength. Sasuke lifted a weak hand to point behind him.</p><p>It was like an army of melted slug people that only vaguely resembled him at all. Some were hunched over, some listing to the side, and some were a pool of misery upon the ground. They looked like they should be saying 'kiiiiiiiill meeeeeeee'. He had flashbacks to the ninja academy and the sickly clone that was his best effort at the time.</p><p>"Shut up," Naruto said and flopped down on the ground, utterly spent.</p><p>"Dead last," Sasuke mocked him, equally unable to continue the fight.</p><p>"Shut up," he said again, scowling with the effort of crafting a proper insult but being too tired to come up with a good one.</p><p>"What's gotten into you?"</p><p>"Nothing. I was bored and wanted to train." It was sort of true. Mostly true.</p><p>Sasuke pulled himself to his feet and shuffled over to him. He had on an uppity, condescending sort of look. Ah, just like the old days. It really irked him, though.</p><p>Sasuke stared down at him and repeated himself. "What's gotten into you?"</p><p>Naruto glared up at him. "Nothing, I said!" It was also annoying him that he missed the feel of those disdainful lips against his. Besides, it had been a while since Sasuke had truly copped such major attitude with him. It really was like being transported back to the old days, where rivalry was all they had between them. It bothered him.</p><p>Sasuke heaved a dramatic sigh, still acting really uppity, though he sat in the dirt next to him. Surprising, since he insisted on white shorts, and they had to be a bitch to keep clean. "I don't want to fight with you," he said at last, though his expression was less than conciliatory.</p><p>
  <em>Why is he acting like I'm some kind of burden?</em>
</p><p>The thought speared through him like a kunai to the chest. It hurt and he was quick to cover it up. "Next time I won't bother. I'll look for a real challenge."</p><p>He scraped himself up off of the earth, feeling really conflicted now. He could have sworn he saw his words impact his rival, but if so, he too wasn't ceding any ground.</p><p>"<em>Dobe</em>," Sasuke muttered the nickname like the insult it had originated as.</p><p>"Sasuke-bastard," he retorted over his shoulder with a rude gesture.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>TBC</strong>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Best Laid Plans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <b>Copycats &amp; Doppelgangers</b>
</p><p class="p1">SasuNaru, Sai/Sasuke/Naruto (and some Sai/Naruto)</p><p class="p1"><b>Summary: </b>Sasuke develops a sudden fear for his sanity when he realizes he might like his best friend. Sai, Sasuke's unwanted doppelganger, becomes a greater thorn in his side when it becomes obvious the crass boy likes Naruto as well. YAOI.</p><hr/><p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Part 6: Best Laid Plans</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>Sasuke fumed and brooded, the embodiment of dark angst, despite the fact that he was currently doing so in a fluffy bubble bath.</p><p>It soothed his nerves, just a little.</p><p>The epic amount of bubbles was somewhat annoying, but he'd made his peace with that long ago.</p><p>What was Naruto's problem?</p><p>He'd asked himself that nearly a million times now. What he <em>wasn't</em> asking himself was the more pertinent question, which was why he was acting like a bitch to the blond, like he used to.</p><p>Unfortunately, in the midst of his indecision on how he <em>should</em> act -now that he had feelings for him- he was defaulting to an on old fallback: asshole mode. He wasn't proud of it. In fact, he felt terrible about it which was why he was spending his time brooding over anything <em>but</em> that.</p><p>Besides, Naruto didn't have to cop such attitude at the end. He'd really meant it when he said he didn't want to fight. Had it come out wrong?</p><p>He heaved a sigh and sank further under the bubbles, submerging up to his nose and petulantly blowing a stream of them underwater as his brooding intensified.</p><hr/><p>Kakashi surveyed his team with a bored look. Stormclouds were brewing over both Sasuke -which was actually somewhat normal- AND Naruto -which was not. Sakura was looking back and forth between them, with an expression on her face like she was suffering indigestion.</p><p>It had been like this for two days now.</p><p>It was annoying.</p><p><em>So much for progress</em>, he thought, losing himself in a dirty novel before he succumbed to the urge to dropkick them or knock their heads together. He'd actually been in a <em>good</em> mood before their team met up again for normal training.</p><p>Iruka was proving to be a delightful distraction from the tedium of daily life.</p><p>He should have entertained that whim a long time ago. He supposed being trapped in the woods around the ungodly levels of sexual tension, as his blundering students made an absolute mess of things, was to blame. It also made him impatient. By the time he got back, he was feeling a bit reckless. Boredom and annoyance could do that to a person.</p><p>But, back to the problem at hand. Sasuke and Naruto were practically beefing like they had in the old days. It used to be amusing, but after their mission, he was now almost vindictively wanting to knock some sense into them.</p><p>He hated wasted effort.</p><p>Why were they both so stubborn?</p><p>He let out a bored sigh, and felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Even his book wasn't going to fully distract him from this puzzle.</p><p>"Is something wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" the pink haired girl asked. Her look of concern barely hid her desire to be distracted from the drama of her teammates.</p><p>"No, Sakura, just reaching the end of my book," he said, regardless of the fact that he was obviously only halfway through. Her quick eyes took note of that, even as he promptly tucked it away.</p><p>"Sasuke, Naruto," he called out in a bored tone. Twin looks of aggravation met his. They'd been arguing again. It was almost cute how they were in sync even now and didn't even realize it. Cute, but annoying. "You are impeding our training. Do I need to swap out a team member to keep things interesting?"</p><p>They looked at each other and then at Sakura in quick succession, as if she was the one who'd get booted. She promptly looked offended.</p><p>He chuckled to himself that it never occurred to them that she wasn't the one on the chopping block. "I can think of one bored and antisocial sand-nin who probably wouldn't mind paying Naruto a visit."</p><p>The blond blanched at the mention of Gaara, an aggrieved look on his face. Sasuke looked combative and jealous.</p><p>"Or, Hyuuga?" Kakashi added, stirring shit up on purpose.</p><p>Sasuke leveled a murderous look at him as he named one of the other boys who seemed enamored of the blond. Naruto looked put upon and asked why he should be tortured.</p><p>"Then, can I trust the three of you to act more like a team?" he prompted. Though secretly, he thought it would be a lot more interesting to throw some chaos their way. But that wouldn't actually fix the issue, so he refrained.</p><p>Sakura nodded, and the other two grumbled their assent.</p><p>"As teammates, it is important to <em>COMMUNICATE</em>," he emphasized the word loudly, nearly making them wince. It likely wouldn't get the message through their thick skulls, but he figured he'd try anyway. "Sakura, you go first. Run the field, find the dummy hostage and then communicate to Naruto where it is. GO!" She was off like a flash, a pink streak of lightning. She needed a lot of work to get up to the same skill level as the other two, but at least she wasn't mooning over Uchiha anymore. It made things progress much faster.</p><p>"Sasuke, the same."</p><p>The dark haired boy gave him skeptical look. "You want me to report back to Naruto… while Sakura is also going to report back to Naruto…?" He cast droll look upon the blond and back again. "He'll never remember two sets of instructions, let alone one."</p><p>"Hey!" Naruto yelled in protest.</p><p>Kakashi rubbed his chin. The kid had a point. He hadn't thought that through. Uchiha would be fine, and Haruno as well. But Naruto sometimes had the memory of a goldfish. Nevertheless, he didn't like being wrong, and so instead he raised his headband, exposing both eyes and gave the dark-haired boy an unfriendly look. "Are you challenging my orders?" He knew the look was loads more effective with his permanent sharingan glaring red like blood.</p><p>Sasuke, despite having the Sharingan himself, looked a bit cowed and was quick to utter a "No, sir," and took off in the direction of his task. Despite being a user, he probably wasn't used to seeing it himself. Unlike Naruto.</p><p>Naruto was giving him a bland expression and looked unimpressed. "You did that on purpose."</p><p>"How observant."</p><p>"You <strong>do</strong> realize it reminds him of his psychotic brother, right?"</p><p>Oh. He'd forgotten about that in the moment. Oops. He waved off the comment as if it didn't matter. Itachi was a nightmare <em>trainwreck</em> of a brother. "I hope you are mentally preparing for your part in this exercise," he hummed, taking out his book. Naruto immediately floundered and flapped about lamenting his swiss cheese memory. It was a hilarious turnabout from that serious no-nonsense look he'd had on mere seconds before.</p><p>Sakura actually did make it back first, but only by a few seconds, even though she'd had the greater head start. She jumped into her description immediately and Naruto did his best to follow. Then Sasuke appeared, demanding his attention and started going into HIS directions. Naruto panicked, looking back and forth between them, Sakura tugging at his shirt and Sasuke commanding him with the force of his tone.</p><p>Ah, now this was funny. He watched over the top of his book as the blond got increasingly flustered, and was now was backing away from his two competitive teammates. "S-Sakura chan," he placated as her fighting spirit came out and threatened to throttle him. "Sasuke," he pleaded as the stormcloud threatened to smite him for not being given preference. Just before it all exploded, Naruto hollered, "Gah! Fine I'll do it myself!" and took off at a fierce run.</p><p>"Failed," Kakashi noted drolly, turning a page of his book. "No lunch break today."</p><p>"What?" Sakura was incensed. "I did <em>my</em> part!"</p><p>"So did I!" the raven-haired boy was also indignant.</p><p>"So, shouting at the same time was a useful way of communicating to your teammate?" he said blandly without looking up. "Did it ever occur to you to prioritize?"</p><p>Silence met his ears. He continued. "If they were real hostages, or even injured comrades, don't you think a conversation would be in order to work out the best course of action?"</p><p>Sasuke was moping, likely berating himself, and Sakura was pouting at her shoes.</p><p>"So now," he continued his lecture, "you have sent a fellow ninja into an unknown situation, by himself, with basically no intel. Tell me, whose fault that would be if he gets injured or dies?"</p><p>"Ours," they mutter.</p><p>"And who did you blame for your failure?"</p><p>"Naruto," they said like petulant children.</p><p>They waited until Naruto came back, which unfortunately was near sundown, because the kid just didn't know when to quit. He came back, bedraggled, and looking somewhat defeated. "I found one," he said.</p><p>"Ok," Kakashi said, not raking him over the coals for wasting so much time. They should have been done hours ago. "I'm assuming it was Sakura's, based on the direction you came from. Tell Sasuke where to find it."</p><p>Once done, he indicated that Sasuke should go test the instructions. This time the Uchiha heir did as he was told with no backtalk.</p><p>"Aren't you going to scold him for anything?" Sakura fumed, still being miffed at their dressing down earlier.</p><p>He could, actually. It just seemed like too much of a bother. "Why don't you tell me what you'd reprimand him for?" He could kill two birds with one stone, here.</p><p>She put her hands on her hips and glared at her teammate a little. "While you were running around, we got read the riot."</p><p>Naruto looked suitably cowed. He never was good at taking Sakura's displeasure. "What for?" he said nervously, shooting a look at Kakashi, like he was expecting an attack from both quarters.</p><p>She tossed her short pink hair and looked down on him. "For talking at you all all at once instead of prioritizing." He nodded as if that made sense, which it did. "But YOU, Naruto, you just turned tail and ran off! How is THAT helpful, huh? Couldn't you just have a spine and tell us to go one at a time?"</p><p>Wow, that was harsh.</p><p>Naruto looked cagey, like he wanted to say that hadn't been an option, but didn't want Sakura to bite his head off.</p><p>Sasuke flashed back into view, looking winded but triumphant. "Found it," he said briefly before turning to Sakura. "Lay off, would you? We were both practically shouting at him and weren't listening to anything he said in the first place."</p><p><em>Oh, very good, Sasuke.</em> Kakashi slow clapped his approval."That's what I want to see. Put yourself in the other person's shoes. Communication works when you try to understand the other person, instead of just making the most noise. Sakura, you fail."</p><p>The pink-haired girl drooped.</p><p>"Naruto, you also fail, because Sakura had a point."</p><p>She brightened a bit and Naruto drooped.</p><p>"Sasuke," he turned to the dark-haired boy, "you redeemed yourself slightly, but don't get cocky, you mostly failed as well."</p><p>"You always fail everyone anyway," he muttered under his breath.</p><p>"I'm sorry, did you say something?" he pinned his pupil with a gimlet stare.</p><p>"No, sir."</p><p>"Dismissed."</p><p>Kakashi let out a sigh as they all ran off. Being an instructor was exhausting. He ran a hand through his silvery locks, thinking Iruka must be a masochist for even wanting to teach the young ones. His charges were a lot easier to deal with now that they were older. He couldn't imagine teaching a classroom full of the mouthy little brats.</p><p>He did think somewhat fondly, however, of behavioral throwbacks his team showed at times. Naruto, with his panicked flailing, was so much like how he was as a young kid. Sasuke, wearing the brooding and murderous looks, was still kind of cute even now. Sakura devolving into being a know-it-all AND taking out her irritation on Naruto... less cute, but it did show she'd grown a lot as she didn't tend to do that very often anymore.</p><p>All in all, they weren't doing half bad.</p><hr/><p>By habit, Naruto headed home without talking to Sasuke. He felt marginally better after what he'd said to Kakashi, but he didn't know if that meant he'd face a benevolent mood if he tried to engage the other boy on his own. It's possible he'd simply said what he figured their instructor wanted to hear.</p><p>He frowned and scuffed his feet on the ground as he made his way back to his dingy little apartment.</p><hr/><p>Sasuke had tried, but failed, to work up the nerve to talk to Naruto after training was over. He wasn't quick enough to force words out and he was treated to his retreating back and an unobstructed view of one of his horrible orange jackets.</p><p><em>I should set the rest of them on fire,</em> he thought with aggravation. It had actually been quite satisfying to see the arm of one of them go up in flames, once the danger to Naruto was put to rest.</p><p>"Hn," he scoffed to himself. <em>He should wear the charred one like a badge of honor.</em></p><hr/><p>Things went on like this for a time. It was a bit of a stalemate. Naruto was getting really sick of his apartment and he was starting to actually notice, and be bothered by, the mess. Previously he'd written off any complaints Sasuke had made about it, but now he sort of grudgingly admitted he might have had a point.</p><p>This didn't quite inspire him to clean up, but it <em>almost</em> did.</p><p>He rolled around on his bed listlessly, feeling bored. Training had worn him out, so that was the last thing on his mind to pass the time. Sadly, he didn't have many hobbies. He'd grown up rather wholeheartedly focused on becoming the next Hokage, so he'd funneled all of his energies into that. And ramen. Speaking of which, his stomach growled. He sighed, feeling it might just be too much effort to go and make any for himself. Even though it was just instant noodles.</p><p>There was a sudden knocking at the door and he fell off the bed, it startled him so badly. "Ow…"</p><p>He went to answer it, but noone was there.</p><p>Instead, there was a folded piece of paper sitting upon his ratty doormat.</p><p>"What the heck?" he muttered with a frown, picking it up. Inside was a message:</p><p>
  <em>Naruto,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Meet me at Ichiraku's. My treat. But leave the godawful jacket at home for once.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>-S</em>
</p><p>Naruto blinked and read it a few times. It was definitely Sasuke. Noone else had such a masterful hatred over his beloved orange getup.</p><p>He supposed he could throw out his own olive branch and honor the request. Besides, Sasuke rarely offered to pay. Most of the times they went out it was because he'd shouted a challenge at his moody rival and LOST, so he'd always been the one expected to pay. Not that he <em>did</em>, but that was besides the point.</p><hr/><p>Naruto made his way to the ramen shop, feeling a lot more lighthearted than before, though he was all nerves as well.</p><p>He really didn't react well to Sasuke's standoffish side. It usually ended in him flaring back and starting a fight. It had been a great way to effortlessly keep in shape over the years, but he was over it. He liked having a best friend way more than a bitchy rival with a superiority complex.</p><p>Not that 'best friend' Sasuke didn't have an attitude, but it was toned down several dozen notches.</p><p>Even though he'd left practically right away, Sasuke had beaten him here. He could make him out at a table further in. "Sasuke," he greeted, somewhat guarded.</p><p>His dark-haired rival blinked at him in slight surprise. "You left your jacket at home?"</p><p>Naruto shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed. He could feel the heat in his cheeks. "Well, I know you hate it. Besides, you asked me to."</p><p>"What are you talking about?"</p><p>"The note."</p><p>"What note?"</p><p>Naruto frowned. "Are you messing with me right now?"</p><p>Sasuke was quick to shake his head. He even held up his hands as if to placate him. "I'm not. What note?"</p><p>Well, that was weird. If he hadn't written a note, then why was he even here? Ichiraku's wasn't a place he came to on his own. And why had it seemed he was expecting him? Naruto still felt like he was being punked but reluctantly played along, "You sent a note saying to meet you here, that it was your treat, and basically that you hate my jackets and probably didn't mind it when you tried to destroy the other one <em>WHILE I was wearing it</em>." He ad libbed the other part, just to see how Sasuke would react. Besides, he kind of felt that it was true.</p><p>"That was an accident," he scoffed, somewhat indignant. "And why would I admit that in a note?"</p><p>"Are you saying it isn't true?"</p><p>"Well, if it was, I'd hardly admit to it, would I?"</p><p>Naruto grumbled at him, ceeding the point.</p><p>"What about the note you wrote me?" Sasuke said then, giving him an uncomfortably assessing look.</p><p>"What note?"</p><p>Sasuke quoted, "<em>Teme</em>. Iciraku's in one hour. You're paying. -N"</p><p>Naruto shook his head, almost on the verge of laughter. "And you responded to that?" Sasuke's glowering look was priceless. Was he blushing? Or was that a trick of the light?</p><p>"Well, it did sound like you," he grumbled.</p><p>Naruto laughed out loud at that. To think, his own note was a bribe, and Sasuke's had been a command. Still, it had gotten them both here.</p><hr/><p>"Naruto," Sasuke waved off his mirth, "if we didn't send the notes, then who did?"</p><p>He tried to ignore his pricking ego as the blond flat out laughed at him, but there were more pressing matters at hand. That note had sounded <em>just</em> like Naruto. He'd actually snorted in amusement as he read it, while also feeling annoyed. But he missed the dunce, and had decided to meet up with him without a second thought.</p><p>It wasn't the first time the blond had forged a truce with him while waving around an entitled attitude. It barely even phased him these days. Hell, it was even cute, sometimes. More often then not, the blond would send him secretive looks, when he thought Sasuke wasn't paying attention, assessing the effect of his bravado with tentative blue eyes. It was <em>so</em> obvious. Naruto was typically the least stealthy person he knew. But, it was predictable, and that was comforting in a way.</p><p>Which, ironically, brought him back to the current trouble. Everything felt different, now that he had these godforsaken feelings popping up everywhere, and he didn't know how to act. He'd been doing <em>stellar</em> so far, driving a wedge between them with his old attitude and he wasn't quite sure how to make it <em>stop</em>.</p><p>Naruto looked hopeful, but wary. It made his chest hurt, but he also couldn't blame him. He'd been kind of terrible, and Naruto was largely only flaring up at him because of it.</p><p><em>Why can't I just admit that I've missed him? </em>he berated himself.</p><p>Fucking Sai. After the nosy bastard had pointed it out to him, he couldn't stop being aware of it. He had massive issues over his feelings, and his kneejerk reaction was to suppress them or overcompensate as if they weren't really there. DENIAL. Judging by his current treatment of the object of his desire, it was probably safe to say he'd carried a torch for him ever since childhood. Damnit. That was so uncool.</p><hr/><p>Naruto fidgeted. Sasuke had gotten quiet and seemed to be waging some kind of internal battle. He wasn't quite sure if it had anything to do with him or not, but he really was keen to avoid his ire. Sasuke the <em>rival</em> could be mean as shit. It brought out the urge in him to punch him in the face.</p><p>Sasuke his <em>best friend</em>, however… he was thoughtful, and hot, and put nothing but scandalous urges in his head.</p><p>Though, if he was being honest, he must've had a bit of a complex, because he'd started falling for him even before they'd really become friends. He'd shown flickers of decency, and one faint yet disarming smile too many and he'd fallen hard.</p><p>Damn it, he almost missed the weird setup they'd had with Sai during the mission. This was awkward as hell and it was making him sad. Part of him wanted to get the hell out of dodge before this had a chance to go south.</p><hr/><p>Sasuke looked up, about to attempt some kind of comment to Naruto regarding feelings and stuff, though he cringed mightily at even the thought of it, but he was blocked.</p><p>Literally, physically, blocked.</p><p>Someone was sitting down between them, had the <em>nerve</em> to -</p><p>"Sai?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. Sasuke blinked past his annoyance and saw that the black clad individual was none other than the emotionally vacant lech himself.</p><p>"Well, I see you're both making a mess of things without me," he said blandly, sitting between them as if he belonged there.</p><p>Sasuke felt his hackles rise, possessiveness making him angry to be intruded upon. And yet-</p><p>Sai treated each of them to a plastic smile in turn, being the buffer between them. "Miss me?" he asked, creaking upon one intimately dark eye. He had his normal air of taking control of the situation, and them. Like nothing had ever changed.</p><p>Sasuke, in some parts, found that he felt relieved. He could see it reflected in blue eyes, as well, which were meeting his more naturally at last. Returning back to this odd arrangement…</p><p>For now... maybe this was ok.</p><hr/><p>Kakashi congratulated himself on a job well done. His team was properly stabilized once more, due in no small part to knowing his charges like the back of his hand. Writing those notes had been a cakewalk.</p><p>Tossing Sai back into the mix was merely a stroke of genius.</p><p>If the two knuckleheads couldn't work stuff out between themselves on their own, the continued arrangement should give them more time to figure it out.</p><p>Bonus, he'd made it sound like he was doing <em>Sai</em> a favor, and now he had a steady supply of erotic art to oggle once more. He'd even wrangled him into doing some more daring pieces, starring his new favorite pastime, Iruka. Not that Sai had done more than raise an eyebrow, at first, his only complaint being that he didn't exactly know what he looked like.</p><p>Kakashi happily pointed him out and alleviated that roadblock.</p><p>"Pervert," Sai said blandly when Kakashi suggested he could draw the both of them together as well.</p><p>Kakashi shrugged. "Takes one to know one."</p><p>"Not really, but point taken."</p><hr/><p><em>Ah, love, </em>Kakashi thought as he reviewed the newest pictures at his leisure, before calmly hiding them where Iruka would never find them.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>FIN</strong>
</p><p>A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Read and Review!</p><p><strong>SasuNaru is my all time OTP. It was challenging to write them with anyone else but I really like how this came out. The earlier days in Naruto, well before the epic SasuNaru fight has my heart and soul.</strong> I read this weekend how some stuff goes down in Shippuden... (I stopped watching because of filler, and character inconsistencies which made me sad. They BROKE Gaara. Sorry, but that boy was defective. Nothing was fixing that, especially in such a short time. Now he's well adjusted? Doing things for others? I call BS.)</p><p>Anywho the apparent marriages between characters in Shippuden made me want to rage quit. NONE of them made sense. Like, WTF. Naruto was like the epic love story (or bromance, take your pick) between Sasuke and Naruto. The girls they got paired with was not supported by the show and was stupid. UGH.</p><p>This is just my opinion, of course. lol.</p><p>So, I will continue living in the past, ignoring all that silly future-stuff garbage. <strong>Also, apparently I ship Kakashi and Iruka. Who knew? </strong>I will forever receive random surprises in my fics.</p><p>xoxo</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>P.S. I have now written a Kakashi/Iruka fic, which I am doing finalization on. It will likely be called "The Man Behind the Mask"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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